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Agriculture - Business - Commentary Development - Education - Governance History - Investment - Lifestyle/Culture Technology/Science Wakanda City, Ghana
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Africa's New Cities page 24, 26, 28 Kenya
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Akon City, Senegal
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Awakening the African Giant Within May-June 2021
Table of Contents
Scramb for Afric Artists 14
Retail Trends 8
MAY-JUNE 2021
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Business 6
8 10 11 14 17 18 21 22
AfCFTA and UNDP Announce New Partnership Towards Inclusive Growth in Africa Retail Trends That Will Outlast the Pandemic AfCFTA Secretariat to Create Continent-wide Payment Platform Africa Tries Free Trade The World’s Biggest Music Companies are Scrambling to Sign African Artists Adeniji to Helm Warner Music South Africa 18 Wealthiest Black Billionaires in the World Private Consortium Takes Over SAA with 51% Stake, Gov't has 49% Following Twitter Choosing Ghana, Amazon opts for South Africa for its First African Office
Development 2
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26 28 30 32 34 36 38
Uganda, Tanzania, Oil Firms Sign Accords to Build $3.5-Billion Pipeline "Wakanda City of Return" Project Starts in August Akon Hasn’t Even Built his First ‘Futuristic’ City yet, but Uganda is Giving Him Land for a Second Konza Technopolis: Welcome to Silicon Savannah ‘We Cannot Drink Oil’: Campaigners Condemn East African Pipeline Project Mastercard and Island Pay Launch World’s First Central Bank Digital Currency-Linked Card 5 Nonprofit Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid Germany Will Pay Namibia $1.3bn as it Formally Recognizes Colonial-era Genocide The Global Startup Awards Africa Seeks out the Best Technology Innovators from Around Africa
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Nairobi 68
Wildlife Bonds 76
ble can
Agriculture 39 40
Onward and Upward for Vertical Farming From Better Feed to a Better Way of Farming
Investment 58 60
Pandemic-Health 42 45 46 48 50
How Africa could use Solar Tech to Distribute Covid-19 Vaccines Africa May Not Reach Herd Immunity Against Covid-19 Until 2023 Virus Variants Stoke Need for Vaccine Cash, Rockefeller Says Epic COVAX COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Continues World Bank Financing for COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Reaches $2 Billion
Governance 52 54 56 3
Ivory Coast’s President Ouattara Names Patrick Achi as Prime Minister Feared and Revered: Patrice Talon, Benin's 'King of Cotton' Africa is too Important for Americans to Ignore
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65 67 68 70 72 76 79
African Stock Exchange/Bourse NBA Stars Like Kevin Durant and Kyle Lowry are Increasingly Pouring Money into Startups for the Thrill of Investing and a Chance to Break Down Barriers for People of Color Kuda Raises $25M more led by Valar to Become the Neobank for ‘Every African on the Planet’ $2 Million Fund to Invest in Up-and-Coming Creators Nairobi is Africa’s Most Innovative City, Report Shows How to Attract Angel Investors in 2021 Airtel Africa’s Mobile Money Business Gains $100m Investment from Mastercard World’s First Wildlife Bond to Track Rhino Numbers in Africa Ethiopia Finally Opens up Telecoms Market see page 4
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Table of Contents
Better Agriculture 40
Solidarity 53
African Fashion Conquers Film 98
MAY-JUNE 2021 80 82 84
'We are the Best-Funded AI Startup,’ says SambaNova Co-Founder Olukotun Following SoftBank, Intel Infusion Founder of $16 Billion Ariel Investments Created a School to Teach Kids Financial Literacy Through Stocks Ghana to Sell Sustainable Bonds for Up to $1 Billion by July
Technology/Science 85 86 88
Zoom Boosts its App Ecosystem with $100M Venture Fund Summers Could Last Half the Year by the End of this Century BEWARE!! - How Online Scammers Fooled one of Africa’s Biggest Fintech Startups
92 94 95 96 97 98 104
How an Extraordinary Women-Only Village is Inspiring Land Equality in Rural Kenya Simone Biles Maintains Gold Standard Overseas Spectators will be Banned from Tokyo Olympics due to COVID-19 Risks The BAL: Zamalek Wins Inaugural Basketball Africa League First-Ever Black Virtual Art Exhibit Opens 2021 Show With More Than 1,200 Pieces How African Fashion has Conquered Film Chef Deborah VanTrece is Showing us Soul Food’s Global Range
Resources 106
Events Around the African Continent and the World
Lifestyle/Culture 4
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About the
Africa Business Association The Africa Business Association is an independent international business development organization. We offer access to the latest resources, information, and best practices in advocacy and communications for the African Diaspora and the African entrepreneurs in Africa. We work to help you have access to news and events as starting points for constructive conversations and calls to action. We seek to cut through the froth of the political spin cycle to underlying truths and values. We want to be so focused on progress that together we can provide a credible and constructive generation of Africans that take seriously our previous generations and act upon all their wishes, our hopes and aspirations to make lasting change for all future generations. 5
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Africa Business Association
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PUBLISHER/PRESIDENT Ricky Muloweni
ADVISORY BOARD
Earl 'Skip' Cooper, II, CEO, Black Business Association H.E. Sheila Siwela, Ambassador H.E. Kone L. Tanou, Ambassador
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ricky Muloweni
LAYOUT/TYPESETTING Lion Communications
AFRICA BUSINESS ASSOCIATION NEWS 6564 LOISDALE COURT, SUITE 600 Springfield, VA 22150 USA 1-571-278-9441 aba@africabisinessassociation.org dawn@africabusinessassociation.org www.africabusinessassociation.org
Copyright © 2020 by Africa Business Association News All Rights Reserved. The posting of stories, commentaries, reports, documents and links (embedded or otherwise) on this site does not in any way, shape or form, implied or otherwise, necessarily express or suggest endorsement or support of any of such posted material or parts therein.
Image credits: Cover-http://creativafrica.blogspot.com, United States Department of Commerce
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Business
AfCFTA and UNDP Announce New Partnership Towards Inclusive Growth in Africa THE AFCFTA SECRETARIAT AND THE UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP) have signed a strategic partnership to promote trade as a stimulus for Africa’s socioeconomic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, and as a driver of sustainable development particularly for women and youth in Africa, in line with the SDGs and Agenda 2063 common vison for the continent. The agreement was sealed yesterday by the AfCFTA Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Wamkele Mene, accompanied by Ambassador Fatima Mohammed Kyari, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations, and by the UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa. “The AfCFTA is beyond a trade liberalizing instrument. It is an enabler of inclusive growth and sustainable development,” said Mr. Wamkele Mene, who made the journey to New York for the historic occasion. “We must rebalance Africa’s role in global trade. As African countries implement COVID-19 recovery plans, this collaboration with UNDP will drive momentum, on the ground in AfCFTA state parties, to ensure that women and youth are the leading beneficiaries of the AfCFTA.” The partnership will leverage UNDP’s presence in all African countries, working in close collaboration with other UN entities, and includes direct support to the AfCFTA Secretariat through a financial grant of US$3 million. This will enhance AfCFTA Secretariat advocacy among policy makers, business, civil society, academia, youth and other stakeholders. “UNDP is pleased to support the AfCFTA as a development enabler and accelerator that can move the continent beyond COVID-19 recovery, 6
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Hon. Wamkele Keabetswe Mene Secretary-General, AfCFTA
Ambassador Fatima Mohammed Kyari, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations
Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa, UN Assistant SecretaryGeneral and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa DAWN
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towards The Africa We Want and the Sustainable Development Goals,” emphasized Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa. “If we succeed, we will have contributed to creating stronger and more resilient inclusive and green economies in Africa characterized by rising incomes, jobs, more balanced trade, and better returns from Africa’s natural resources” Trade is recognized as a mean of implementation for the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063. The new collaboration aims to address inequalities, promote value addition and create jobs. As Africa trades more with itself, it will be essential to target critical hurdles faced in exporting within Africa such as SME export competitiveness; rules of origin; technical and product safety standards. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) - the world’s largest free-trade area started trading on 1 January 2021, creating a market of 1.2 billion people and the eighth economic bloc in the world with a $3-trillion combined GDP, that is expected to more than double by 2050. The partnership signing is part of a twoday official visit to New York by the AfCFTA Secretariat Secretary General. Since its launch, the AfCFTA has been ratified by 36 countries, and already possesses 90% of tariff offers and 34 services offers, which enables sound business and investment decisions in intra-African trade, strengthening accelerated action for trade as a means of implementation for the Africa We Want, and for the SDGs.
History Trading under the AfCFTA started in earnest on 1 January 2021, following a five-and-half-year
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period since negotiations were launched on 15 June 2015. Tough negotiations were followed by signing of the Agreement on 21 March 2018, entry into force on 30 May 2019 and start of trading on 1 January 2021. UNDP is the first strategic partner for the implementation phase of the Agreement. The Memorandum of Understanding has been carefully designed following comprehensive consultations based on a shared vision of the future of the continent, and is an expression of the strong commitment to see the AfCFTA becoming an engine for Africa’s sustainable economic development.
About UNDP UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet. Learn more at undp.org or follow @UNDP Join the conversation @AfCFTA, @ UNDPAfrica and #OneAfricanMarket For more information on the AfCFTA please contact: Jemila Abdel Vetah (jemila. abdelvetah@au-afcfta.org) For more information on the Partnership with UNDP, please contact: Dr. Joy Kategekwa (antonia.joy.kategekwa@undp.org) https://reliefweb.int/report/world/afcfta-and-undpannounce-new-partnership-towards-inclusivegrowth-africa Image credit: myza.co.za, thenigerialawyer.com, theabusites.com, UNDP
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Business
Retail Trends That Will Outlast the Pandemic By Christine Sullivan
TO SURVIVE AND SUCCEED in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers quickly adapted to meet customers' priorities and needs. Convenience became a touchstone of our "new normal," defining how, when, and where we shop. This trend will continue to be a hallmark of how consumers and retailers engage in the future. A recent report found that in the last year, 50% of global shoppers used digital payments more than before the pandemic, and the majority plan to continue doing so after the pandemic ends. Whether shopping for groceries, sending loved ones birthday or holiday gifts from anywhere in the world, or carrying out their day-to-day shopping, many have shifted in-person traffic to digital channels. Consumers have found appreciation in having everything they need at the touch of a button without ever having to leave their homes. In many cases, this has also become a necessity. So which trends will outlast the pandemic?
globally in the last year. These metrics underscore the value of omnichannel offerings that optimize store and web-based touchpoints to meet customers' ever-changing needs and streamline the entire shopping experience.
Transactions will Require Contactless Options
Heightened hygiene awareness is here to stay, and this isn't limited to peoples’ interactions with each other; it includes contact with publicly shared devices like point-of-sale terminals and checkout counters. Companies such as Purell Digital Touchpoints will Continue to predict that consumers’ demand for hygiene Thrive will remain exponentially high, even after the While in-person foot traffic is expected to rise pandemic. Contactless offers consumers a safer, post-pandemic, we likely won’t see much of a more sanitary way to pay, a convenient way to decline in online shopping patterns, as customers speed up checkout, and more control over physical will continue to shop online, check inventory proximity. prior to going in person, and rely on purchasing Consumers will continue to find value in items online to pick up curbside or in-store. A contactless options, be it pickup, payment or Google study found 47% of planned shoppers delivery. Additionally, we will see consumers shy said they’ll continue using options to buy online away from cash payment and avoid the high-touch and pick up in-store/curbside, and 67% said nature of card readers. A Mastercard report they like to confirm online that an item is in stock found 82% of respondents view contactless as before going to buy it in-store. In fact, searches for the cleaner way to pay, and 74% plan to continue "available near me" increased by more than 100% opting for contactless interactions in the future.
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Offering and communicating these options to consumers is key, as is integrating loyalty programs seamlessly into these payment flows. For instance, consider offering rewards points on contactless transactions.
Shoppers will Engage More with Local Businesses Supporting small, local, and minority-owned businesses became crucial in the COVID era, as many of these businesses struggled amidst the lockdowns, resource shortages, and disrupted supply chains. Communities rallied behind these
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businesses to offer support, as well as procure locally produced and reliable products. Post-pandemic, consumers will continue to opt for sustainable and locally sourced products. According to a National Retail Federation report, 49% of consumers made purchases specifically to support local small businesses during the pandemic. Additionally, a Nextdoor survey found that 72% of its members believe they will frequent local businesses more often after the crisis ends. Despite hiccups at the beginning of the pandemic, many small local retailers proved agile and pivoted quickly to offer convenient buy online and contactless pickup and delivery options to customers. As many community members continue to steer away from big-box stores, demonstrating solidarity with local business owners, location-based personalization and targeting will become more critical for larger retailers looking to compete at the local level. Rightfully so, COVID-19 has made us unwilling to compromise on convenience, safety and comfort while shopping. This will remain true long after the pandemic. Retailers' (of all sizes and industries) success will lie in adapting business strategies to accommodate consumers' evolving priorities and behaviors. Those that have innovated and adapted to the new climate over the last year will be the retail leaders of tomorrow. www.mytotalretail.com/article/retail-trends-thatwill-outlast-the-pandemic/#ne=4a21b9167bf6 58408191e7c49140a9aa&utm_source=totalretail-report&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_ campaign=2021-04-21 Image credit: theafricangourmet.com, instylevacations.ca, africanthreads.ca
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Business
AfCFTA Secretariat to Create Continent-wide Payment Platform
The AfCFTA Secretariat is working on a continent-wide payment platform to enable MSMEs trade easily across Africa. BUSINESSES ACROSS THE CONTINENT will soon enjoy a convenient and affordable mode of payment, as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat readies to introduce a pan-African payment and settlement platform. When introduced, businesses will no longer have to worry about the high cost involved in making cross-country payments for goods and services, Secretary General of the AfCFTA Wamkele Keabetsewe Mene announced in Accra, in what could be a major boost for intra-African trade under the free economic zone. “Among the challenges we hope to address are the cost of doing business and cost of transactions when you do business. The cost of payment when you want to transfer money is not cost-effective or efficient. So, we are working with African ExportImport Bank to develop a pan-African payment and settlement platform,” he said. 10
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He spoke at the 44th Annual General Meeting of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), and said the platform will enable businesses to make payments across the continent in local currencies and at affordable rates. “Currently, to make payment for goods and services from Ghana to another African country, a business first has to covert the funds from cedi into dollars before it is transferred; and then the recipients will also have to covert the dollars into their local currencies,” he said, lamenting this costly and inefficient mode. He also said holistic efforts are being made to tackle challenges which impede trade among economies within the continent, including streamlining Customs Operations in memberstates. “All the things that make doing business in Africa very expensive, we want to streamline all of them – including Customs authorities – and switch them onto a digital platform for the range of activities that they do as Customs. “We can use digital platforms to make sure that trade in Africa is affordable and easily accessible to the millions of Africans who want to conduct business across the continent. So, digital platforms in my view are going to be the catalysts for intraAfrican trade to take place and for us to significantly boost trade from where it stands today,” he said. The success of the AfCFTA, to a large extent he noted, will depend on the ease with which the private sector can conduct business. “If we don’t address the constraints, if we don’t make it easier for the private sector to conduct business on the continent, this agreement will fall short.” The AfCFTA will come into effect January 1, 2021 after the initial date of July 1, 2020 was postponed because of the effects from COVID-19. To find out more about AfCFTA visit https:// korantenglaw.com/is-africa-ready-for-the-freemovement-of-persons-with-the-afcfta. source: thebftonline www.zdnet.com/article/this-3d-printing-factory-isbeing-built-into-a-shipping-container-for-the-usdepartment-of-defense Image credit: korantenglaw.com
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Business - Commentary
Africa Tries Free Trade By Alexander C.R. Hammond ECONOMIC NATIONALISM HAS PLAGUED AFRICA since decolonization. In 2021, that is set to change. On January 1, the long-awaited African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into effect. Aside from the economic benefits that the arrangement will bring to the continent, Africa's newfound support for free trade and liberalization marks a clear rejection of the socialist ideology that has tormented African politics for decades. As it stands, 36 of the 55 African Union (A.U.) nations, including the regional economic powerhouses of Nigeria, South Africa, and Egypt (which together make up a third of the continent's economy), have ratified the free trade area. Another 18 nations have indicated their support by signing the trade agreement and are expected to become full members soon. So strong is the appetite for free trade in Africa that Eritrea—often dubbed "Africa's Hermit Kingdom"—is the only nation on the continent that remains reluctant to support the agreement. Eritrea may eventually reconsider. Within 5–10 years, the AfCFTA will ensure that 90% of tariffs
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on goods traded between member states will be abolished. Within 13 years, 97% of all tariffs will be removed. By 2035, the World Bank has predicted, this enormous liberalization effort will boost Africa's gross domestic product by $450 billion, increase wages for both skilled and unskilled workers by 10%, and lift more than 30 million people out of extreme poverty, defined as living on less than $1.90 per day. According to the same estimates, by 2035, the AfCFTA will see more than 68 million people rise out of moderate poverty, defined as living on $1.90–$5.50 per day. The "countries with the highest initial poverty rates," the World Bank says, will see the "biggest improvements." The likely economic benefits of the AfCFTA are impressive. These rapid gains are ultimately a consequence of diverging from the economic nationalism that has kept much of the continent impoverished. Africa's turbulent relationship with socialism began in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when a plethora of newly independent states rejected the capitalist model. Many of the new leaders viewed see page 12
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Business AfCFTA from page 11
predecessor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The OAU was set up in 1963 by Nkrumah, Nyerere, and several other socialist leaders. Nkrumah believed that "a united socialist Africa is a necessary condition for the realization of the African personality." The organization's founding members argued that the continent could prosper only by uniting behind socialism, rejecting the capitalist system, and disconnecting from the global economy. The OAU therefore was guided by a philosophy of "African socialism." By contrast, the A.U. has just implemented the world's largest free trade area. In 2018, when the AfCFTA was introduced, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, then the union's chairperson, described himself as an avid free-trader and an ideological disciple of Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of free-trading Singapore. Similarly, the A.U.'s current chairperson, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, has proclaimed that free trade will "unleash Africa's economic potential." While there's little doubt that socialism will continue to haunt some parts of the continent, it's clear that, with the AfCFTA supported by 54 of the 55 A.U. member states, liberal ideas are beginning to gain traction on the world's poorest continent. As African countries begin to embrace free trade, we can expect tens, if not hundreds, of millions of Africans to rise out of poverty in the coming years.
capitalism and colonialism as synonymous. "In rejecting the capitalist attitude of mind which colonialism brought into Africa," Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, said in 1963, "we must reject also the capitalist methods which go with it." In 1957, Ghana became the first African nation to achieve independence. Its leader, Kwame Nkrumah, a self-proclaimed "Marxian socialist," suggested that only a "socialist transformation would eradicate the colonial structure of Ghana's economy." Before long, Nkrumah was encouraging other African states to seek independence so that they, too, could pursue the "complete ownership of the economy by the state." Many African leaders followed Ghana's example. Sékou Touré of Guinea pursued "Marxism in African clothes," banning all commercial activities not approved by the government. In Tanzania, the new constitution established the nation as a "socialist state" and pledged to "prevent the accumulation of wealth." Léopold Senghor, the first leader of Senegal, said that after independence, Senegal would be guided "by Marx and Engels." The infatuation with socialism among Africa's intelligentsia has meant that much of the continent's economy has been mangled by central planning. For decades, debilitating policies such https://reason.com/2021/03/30/africa-tries-freeas price and wage controls, expropriation of private trade property, and inefficient state-owned enterprises Image credit: Illustration: Joanna Andreasson, were ubiquitous. The devastating human and Source image: DreamArchitect/Shutterstock, This economic costs imposed by these policies have Day filled the pages of many books. As Free Africa Foundation President George Ayittey notes, the continent's continuous love affair with socialism led to nothing but "economic ruin, oppression, and dictatorship." Thanks to Africa's recent turn toward liberalism, this abusive relationship may finally be over. To highlight just how drastically outlooks have changed on the continent, it is worth comparing the A.U. to its
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Business
Twitter Makes Ghana its Africa Operations Hub By Myjoyonline.com
TWITTER CEO, JACK PATRICK DORSEY has officially announced the presence of a Twitter Headquarters on the African continent by launching in Ghana. Breaking the news on Twitter, the Twitter CEO thanked President Nana Akufo-Addo for opening the doors for the billion-dollar company.
Why Ghana? As a champion for democracy, Ghana is a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is also an advocate. Furthermore, Ghana’s recent appointment to host The Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligns with our overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that will support our efforts to improve and tailor our service across Africa. Whenever we enter new markets, we work hard to ensure that we are not just investing in the talent that we hire, but also investing in local communities 13
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and the social fabric that supports them. We have already laid foundations through partnerships with Amref Health Africa in Kenya, Afrochella in Ghana, Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI) in Nigeria, and The HackLab Foundation in Ghana. As part of our long-term commitment to the region, we’ll continue to explore compelling ways we can use the positive power of Twitter to strengthen our communities through employee engagement, platform activation, and corporate giving. We still have much to learn but we are excited to listen, learn, and engage. Public conversation is essential to solving problems, building shared ideas, and pushing us all forward together. We can’t wait for the next step on that journey. www.myjoyonline.com/news/national/twittermakes-ghana-its-africa-operations-hub/ Image credit: Twitter
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Business
The World’s Biggest Music Companies are Scrambling to Sign African Artists By Christopher Sam
Fueled by a young population, great musical talent, and more streaming opportunities, Africa’s music industry is booming, and the world’s major record labels are taking notice. UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP and Warner Music Group, two of the world’s biggest record labels, have their sights on the continent. In the past few years, they have been signing top African artists, hiring personnel for their operations in the continent, and entering deals with local labels and music streaming companies as they strategically position themselves for a share of Africa’s growing music earnings. Just last month, Universal’s African division, Universal Music Africa, announced the signing of the South African Gospel choir MTN Joyous Celebration. That same month, Warner Music Group said it had appointed music executive Temi Adeniji to the combined role of managing director of its African affiliate, Warner Music South Africa, and senior vice president for strategy for sub-Saharan Africa. Africa’s music industry is shaping up against a healthy outlook for music sales globally—good news after a year without performances and gigs due to the coronavirus pandemic. Recorded music revenues grew in every world region last year, including Africa and Middle East, according to the most recent Global Music Report by the International Federation of the Phonographic 14
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Congolese artiste Dena Mwana draws a crowd. Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have their sights on the continent.
Industry, which featured Africa and the Middle East as regions for the first time. Revenue from recorded music in Africa and the Middle East increased by 8.4% in 2020 from 2019. Streaming revenues in the region went up 36.4% from the previous year, and were the main revenue source for the music industry as a whole for the region. “K-Pop continues to make great strides, of course, but I would argue the most exciting development this year has been how African music and African artists have been embraced by fans worldwide,” Simon Robson of Warner Music Group said in the report, citing global megahit Jerusalema by South Africa’s Master KG and Nomcebo as an example. (The label purchased the rights to Master KG’s Jerusalema album after its release.) “The outlook for Africa is very positive,” says Sipho Dlamini, CEO of Universal Music South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
Expansion Move is New Universal Music Group has been operating in Africa for more than 30 years, centered in South Africa, but started branching out into the continent a few years ago. One of its big moves
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The Kenyan band Sauti Sol, which signed with Universal Music Group last year.
in this strategic expansion was the purchase of a major stake in Kenya’s AI records in 2018, which allowed it to digitize and sell East African music internationally. Universal Music Group’s African roster includes Nigerian Afrobeats singer Tiwa Savage, South African rapper Nasty C, Tanzanian Bongo flava singer Diamond Platnumz, and Kenyan Afro-pop band Sauti Sol. The company sees opportunities in African artists, live music, and streaming services. But the country’s youthful population is a major draw, says 15
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Franck Kacou, managing director at Universal Music Africa and the head of its operations in French-speaking Africa. “Demography is our inner power,” he says. Africa has the youngest population in the world, with the number of people aged 15 to 24 expected to be more than double the 2015 total of 226 million. Universal Music Group’s main priority for its Africa business is growing its physical presence in the continent. “We understand that in order to succeed you have to be in various markets,” says Dlamini. From having one operation in South Africa, the company now has offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Morocco. It divides the continent into three regions: English, French and Arab-speaking territories. “We believe in local identities,” says Kacou, a former musician himself who was signed with Warner then Universal. “If you are trying to break an artist the same way you did in SA in Abidjan you might fail, because the people in Abidjan are eager to [get] music of course, but in a certain way.” Universal Music Group is focused on “growing the entire African ecosystem” in order to add value to artists, Dlamini says, referring to the promise of music publishing, live music, and brand partnerships as revenue streams. If one part of the ecosystem takes a hit, such as live music is doing now because of the Covid-19 pandemic, he adds, artists should be able generate revenue through another part of the ecosystem, such as music publishing and sponsorships. “It’s not enough to say we will sign artists and release their music,” says Dlamini. “The artist’s livelihood relies on the entire ecosystem functioning.” As part of its expansion into Africa, Universal Music Group last year launched Def Jam Africa as a standalone label to tap into hugely popular rap and Afrobeats genres. Warner Group South Africa was born in 2013 after Warner Music Group’s buyout of the shares of South Africa’s Gallo Records in their joint venture, Warner Music Gallo Africa. It’s taking a different approach than Universal, choosing to see page 16 DAWN
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expand through partnerships. One such move was Warner Music Group pairing with the Nigerian record label Chocolate City in 2019 to grow the global reach of African stars. Another was Warner Music Group investing in Africori, an African digital distribution, music rights management, and artist development company, to access to its catalog and A&R network, and enable Warner Music Group to establish a presence in many African markets. “We want to try to support local players and use their knowledge base to build a business and work with them as partners,” says Adeniji. “(Our strategy) has been really focused on trying to help local players really scale and really give them the support and the capital to get bigger or to operate more effectively.” Warner Music South Africa’s roster features Nigerian Afrobeats singer CKay, South African DJ and producer Sketchy Bongo, and South African singer Zahara. The affiliate started this strategic expansion in English and French-speaking parts of the continent three years ago. Before then, it focused on marketing primarily international content in the continent through its South African affiliate.
Weak and Poorly Enforced Copyright Laws While the potential and opportunities in African music are hugely evident, weak copyright laws and poor enforcement remain as challenges. For decades, these have slowed down monetization of music in the continent and deprived African artists of revenue from licensing their music and giving their performance and branding rights. The presence of streaming services has also helped combat the impact of piracy, Dlamini says. Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have entered licensing deals with both local and foreign players, such as Boomplay, Mdundo, Spotify and Apple Music, to stream their catalogs in the continent. “Technology is definitely a helpful sort of tool to navigating around that,” says Adeniji. The International Federation of the Phonographic
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South African singer Zahara, who signed with Warner Music South Africa in 2017.
Industry’s opening of an office in Nairobi last year, its first in sub-Saharan Africa, will also help address this issue. The organization promotes the value of recorded music, campaigns for the rights of record producers, and expands the commercial uses of recorded music. Africa is an important music market, Adeniji says, and its young population makes it particularly valuable. The continent is on a gradual path to monetization, and to become a robust market where paying for music becomes part of the way people engage with the art, she adds. “I really believe that this is a growth market and it’s not like a ‘tomorrow’ play—it’s a play that’s gonna take some time to really yield and bear fruit,” she says. “With just the unique sounds that come out of the continent…it’s no doubt that it’s a creative center.” www.theafricandream.net/the-worlds-biggest-musiccompanies-are-scrambling-to-sign-african-artists Credit: Quartz Africa (https://qz.com/africa/1995580/ why-universal-and-warner-are-taking-notice-ofafrican-artists DAWN
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Business
Adeniji to Helm Warner Music South Africa By Cydney Lee
TEMI ADENIJI WAS APPOINTED as managing director of Warner Music South Africa and senior vp of strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa. She will begin her dual roles in September, reporting to Alfonso Perez-Soto, executive VP for Eastern Europe, Middle East, India and Africa. Adeniji joined Warner Music as director of international strategy and operations in 2016. She was then to promoted to VP in 2019 and Senior VP last year.
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The move is a result of Warner Music’s expansion into Africa, as they are further developing their presence in the region through deals with regional labels, distributors and digital service providers. So far, the company has reached licensing deals with Audiomack and Boomplay, a partnership with one of Nigeria’s leading independent record deals Chocolate City and an investment in Africori, Africa’s leading digital distribution, music rights management, and artist development company. “The world is waking up to the rich and diverse talent present in myriad thriving music scenes across the continent,” Adeniji said. “As this increasingly interconnected digital world continues to remove barriers to music discovery, there is no doubt that in the years ahead we will continue to see even more global superstars from Africa.” “Africa stands on the precipice of a significant growth story, and I’m excited to play an important part in guiding our Company’s strategy and operations in this region. I have worked closely with our South African team over the past few years, so the opportunity to help steer the next stage of their journey is an honor and privilege,” she added. www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/executiveturntable-adeniji-to-helm-warner-music-southafrica-ascap-adds-pair-to-board-of-directors/arBB1eZskw?ocid=msedgdhp Image credits: groove-africa.com, warnermusic. co.za DAWN
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Business
18 Wealthiest Black Billionaires in the World By Chioma Uchenwoke
18 - TYLER PERRY Net Worth: $1 Billion Industry: Media Source: Tyler Perry Studios Country of Residence: United States Tyler Perry is an eminent writer, actor, director and Tyler Perry YouTube producer. He has created successful TV series, directed several box office hits and appreaed in many feature film. He launched Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, GA USA in 2019.
17 - NGINA KENYATTA Net Worth: $1 Billion Industry: Diversified businesses Country of Residence: Kenya Ngina Kenyatta, widow of Kenya's first president Jomo Kenyatta, has investments in the banking, Ngina Kenya a hospitality, real estate and infos15.com manufcturing sectors. She is in charge of her family's business empire which includes: prime land in Kenya, stakes in Brookside Dairy, Commercial Bank of Africa and Heritage Hotel.
16 - JAY-Z Net Worth: $1 Billion Industry: Diversified businesses Source: Roc Nation Sports, 40/40 Club, Rocawear, Tidal Country of Residence: United Sttes Shawn Carter, known
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Shawn Carter
professionally as Jay-Z, is widely rated as one of the most influential rap artists in the world. He has sold over 50 million albums and 75 million singles. He launched his clothing line, Rocawear, in 1999. He has also launched the luxury sports bar chain, the 40/40 Club. Jay-Z is an owner of entertainment company Roc Nation and streaming service Tidal.
15 - FOLORUNSHO ALAKIJA Net Worth: $1 Billion Industry: Diversified businesses Source: Rose of Sharon Group, Famfa Oil Limited Country of Residence: Nigeria Folorunsho Alakija has established herself in the oil, printing, real estate Folorunsho Alakija and fashion industries. The Guardian Nigeria She is the managing director of Rose of Sharon Group (Digital Reality Prints Limited, Rose of Sharon Prints and Promotions Limited) and is a major stakeholder in Dayspring Property Development Company.
14 - STRIVE MASIYIWA Net Worth: $1.1 Billion Industry: Telecommunications Source: Econet Global Country of Residence: United Kingdom The Zimbabwean businessman and philantrhopist gained global recognition as Strive Masiyiwa the owner and executive furtherafrica.com chairman of Econet Global, an international technology group. He founded the mobile phone company Econet
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Wireless in Zimbabwe in 1998. He also has stakes in Liquid Telecom and mobile phone networks in Lesotho and Burundi.
13 - MO IBRAHIM Net Worth: $1.1 Billion Industry: Comemuications Source: Mo Ibrahim Foundation Country of Residence: United Kingdom Mo Ibrahim The Sudaneseafricabusiness2020.com B r i t i s h businessman had tremendous success in telecommunications. He sold his telecommunications firm Celtel International in 2005 for $3.4 billion. Since that time he has established the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to focus on fighting corrupt leadership in African nations.
12 - KANYE WEST Net Worth: $1.3 Billion Industry: Music, Fashion, Retail Source: DONDA, Adidas Yeezy Country of Residence: United States Kanye West made his wealth from his works as a Rap artist, Kanye West record producer, and fashion thethings.com designer. He has worldwide sales of over 20 million albums and 140 million singles. He is owner of DONDA, a creative content company. He collaborates with Adidas on fashion line Adidas Yeezy and with Louis Vuitton and Nike.
11 - MOHAMMED DEWJI Net Worth: $1.6 Billion Industry: Diversified businesses Source: METL Country of Residence: Tanzania A Tanzania b u s i n e s m a n Mohammed Dewji Hindustan Times who owns 19
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Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania Limited (METL) that was founded by his father in the 1970's. He joined the firm in management roles after graduating from Georgetown University, Washington, DC USA. He has gone on to builld the METL Group into Tanzania's largest privately owned conglomerate with stakes in mobile telephony, food and beverages, manufacturing, banking, transport, and logistics companies.
10 - MICHAEL LEE-CHIN Net Worth: $1.6 Billion Industry: Investment Source: Portland Holdings Inc. Country of Residence: Canada The Jamaican-Canadia businessman made the majority of his wealth Michael Lee-Chin through investments as he thebusinessyear.com is the chairman and CEO of Portland Holdings Inc., a private investment company currently situated in Ontario, Canada. He presently has a 65% stake in National Commercial Bank Jamaica and serves as the owner of many other companies.
9 - MICHAEL JORDAN Net Worth: $1.6 Billion Industry: Sport Source: Charlotte Hornets. Country of Residence: United States Michael Jordan is a retired professional American basketball player and entrepreneur. He earned a hugh fortune from sponsorship Michael Jordan deals and still earns from the likes The Federalist of Nike, Gatorade and Hanes.He pocketed a total playing salary of $90 million and raked in an estimated $1.8 billion (pre-tax) from corporate partnerships. He became part-owner of the Charlotte Hornets in 2006 and later bought a majority stake in the franchinse with an estimated value of $175 million.
8 - ISABEL DOS SANTOS DAWN
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Business Billionairs from page 19 Net Worth: $1.7 Billion Industry: Banking, Investment Source: Unitel International Holdings, Santoro Finance, Esperaza Holdings Country of Residence: United Arab Emirates Isabel dos Santos Isabel dos Santos is an The Grio Angolan businesswoman. She is also the eldest chilkd of former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos. She made her wealth by purchasing stakes in companies in Angola. Besides having stakes in Angolan companies she is also a shareholder in several Protuguese companies.
7 - OPRAH WINFREY Net Worth: $2.6 Billion Industry: Media Source: Harpo Productions, Oprah Winfrey Network Country of Residence: United States Oprah Winfrey Oprah Winfrey has The Grio been making waves in the entertainmnet industry for over four decades. She gained international recognition as the host of her highly rated eponymous talk show that went into syndication in 1986 and ran for 25 years. She launched her own company, Oprah Winfrey Network, in 2008. The media magnet is chairman and CEO of Harpo Productions.
6 - PATRICE MOTSEPE Net Worth: $2.9 Billion Industry: Mining, Investment, Sport Source: Portland Holdings Inc. Country of Residence: Canada Patrice Motsepe is popularly known as the founder and Patrice Motsepe chairman of African Rainbow www.702.co.za 20
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Minerals that deals in gold, platinum, ferrous metals, and base metals. He established African Rainbow Capital in 2016. It is a private equity firm that focuses on investing in Africa.
5 - DAVID STEWARD Net Worth: $3.7 Billion Industry: Technology Source: World Wide Technology Country of Residence: United States David Steward founded IT provider World Wide Technology in 1990. Prior to that, he worked as a sales representative at Missouri David Steward brooksysociety.com Pacific Railroad Company for four years and also as a Federal Express senior account executive for five years. He moved on to own Transport Administrative Services and Transport Business Specialists before establishing World Wide Technology.
4 - ROBERT F. SMITH Net Worth: $5.2 Billion Industry: Finance, Investment Source: Vista Equity Partners Country of Residence: United States In the year 2000 Robert Smith launched a private equity company, Vista Equity Partners that focuses soley on software companies. The firm is Robert F. Smith considered as one of the highest www.amazon.com/ books performing private equity firms as it has more than $50 billion in assets. As such, he made the 2018 Vanity Fair 's New Establishment List that recognizes individuals that have made impressive business innovations.
3 - ABDULSAMAD RABIU Net Worth: $5.6 Billion Industry: Diversified businesses Source: BUA Group Country of Residence: Nigeria Abdulsamad Rabiu is the son of Khalifah Isyaku Rabiu - one of Nigeria's foremost industrialists in
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the 70's and 80's. He serves as the founder and chairman of Nigerian conglomerate BUA which focuses on infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing. BUA was founded in 1988 exclusively for commodity trading. Some years latter it expanded its operation by acquiring Nigeria's largest edible oil processing comany, Nigeria Oil Mills Limited.
Private Consortium Takes Over SAA with 5 51% Stake, Gov't has 49% Abdulsamad Rabiu Forbes
2 - MIKE ADENUGA Net Worth: $6 Billion Industry: Telecommunications, Oil Source: Globacom Country of Residence: Nigeria Mike Adenuga mainly made his wealth from telecommunications and Mike Adenuga oil production business newmail-ng.com ventures. He owns the second-largest telecom operator in Nigeria, Globacom that also operates in Benin, C te de'Ivoire and Ghana. The mobile phone network has amassed about 50 million subscribers.
1 - ALIKO DANGOTE Net Worth: $11.6 Billion Industry: Diversified businesses Source: Dangote Group Country of Residence: Nigeria Aliko Dangote is a Nigerian business mogul who serves and the founder and CEO of Dangote Group which he Aliko Dangote launched in 1977 as a small ghpage.com trading company. He has grown the company into a multi-trillion naira conglomerate which also operates in several African nations including Ghana, Togo, Benin and Zambia. https://justrichest.com/18-richest-blackbillionaires-and-their-net-worth
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By Rédaction Africanews and AFP B SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS will now be 51% S owned o by a private consortium, Public Enterprises Minister M Pravin Gordhan announced Friday. At a virtual press conference, Gordhan said "The government g has agreed that the financial partner will w hold 51% of the shares and the government 49%." 4 The Takatso consortium consists of the panAfrican A investor group Harith Global Partners and a the aviation group Global Aviation, Gordhan added. a Africa's second-largest airline was placed on a safeguard plan in December 2019 to avoid bankruptcy. b In April, the independent administrators in charge of o its restructuring declared SAA solvent again. The 635 million euros restructuring plan was followed fo by a large-scale layoff plan. South Africa’s national airline was heavily indebted in and unable to pay full salaries. The SAA has not recorded any profits since 2011. The T airline has for years been surviving through public p funds. Its situation was further compounded during the Covid-19 pandemic, with all operations being put C on o hold in September 2020. The company's major financial difficulties are largely attributed to mismanagement and a ccorruption under former President Jacob Zuma. Zuma ruled the South African nation between Z 2009 and 2018 on the ticket of the ruling African 2 National Congress (ANC) party. N www.africanews.com/2021/06/11/privateconsortium-takes-over-saa-with-51-stake-gov-thas-49 Image credit: apta.biz
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Business
Following Twitter Choosing Ghana, Amazon opts for South Africa for its First African Office By Further Africa Staff AMAZON HAS ANNOUNCED that it would be opening its first African office in South Africa with a real estate investment of over R4 billion (about US$275M). The announcement came just a week after Twitter choose to open its first African office in Ghana. Authorities in Cape Town noted that Amazon would be occupying a new development in River Club, a prime section of the city. This new development will create 5,239 jobs in the construction phase alone, along with 19,000 indirect and induced jobs. The 15-hectare parcel of land will cost R4 billion and include two sections. Authorities said the first precinct of 60,000sqm will occupy different layers of development; while the second section of 70,000 will hold Amazon headquarters in Africa. 22
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A Cape Town city spokesman said: “The development is envisaged to take place in phases, with construction set to take place over three to five years. “It is clear that this development offers many economic, social and environmental benefits for the area. We’re committed to driving investment to revitalise the economy, which is slowly recovering following the impact of Covid-19.” Amazon already launched its data centres for Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Cape Town but its eCommerce services had until now not been available in Africa. https://furtherafrica.com/2021/04/23/following-twitterchoosing-ghana-amazon-opts-for-south-africa-for-itsfirst-african-office/ Image credit: Nasdaq
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Development
Uganda, Tanzania, Oil Firms Sign Accords to Build $3.5-Billion Pipeline By Elias Biryabaremea
UGANDA, TANZANIA AND OIL FIRMS Total Presidents Hassan and Museveni meet to sign pipeline accord (citizentv.co.ke) and CNOOC CNU-T on Sunday, April 10th signed agreements that will kick-start the construction of a $3.5 billion crude pipeline to help ship crude from Total has said EACOP could potentially be the fields in western Uganda to international markets. longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the France’s Total and China’s CNOOC own world. Uganda’s oilfields after Britain’s Tullow exited the “It’s a very large project, one of the largest we country last year. should develop on this continent,” Total’s CEO, The signatories have now agreed to “to start Patrick Pouyanné said, adding they expected oil investment in the construction of infrastructure production to commence in early 2025. that will produce and transport the crude oil,” To get the Ugandan crude flowing, Pouyanné said Robert Kasande, permanent secretary at said investments of more than $10 billion were Uganda’s ministry of energy. required. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and The pipeline has met resistance from Tanzania’s new leader Samia Suluhu Hassan, environmentalists who argue it will threaten on her first official visit, attended the signing of the ecologically sensitive areas along its route, three accords that included: including wildlife reserves and water catchment » a host government agreement for the pipeline, areas for Lake Victoria. » a tariff and transportation agreement and About 263 non-governmental organizations » a shareholding agreement. (NGOs) from around the world have urged the Uganda discovered crude reserves in the chief executives of 25 banks not to extend loans Albertine rift basin in the west of the country near to fund the pipeline. the border with the Democratic Republic of The project, they say, would pose immense Congo in 2006. Government geologists estimated threats to local communities, water supplies, and total reserves at 6 billion barrels. biodiversity in Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic However, the landlocked East African nation Republic of Congo and Kenya. needs a pipeline to transport the crude to “This pipeline project can be a core of bigger international markets. deployments,” said Museveni, adding investors The planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline could use the EACOP land corridor to put up (EACOP), with a length of 1,445 kilometres (898 another pipeline to ship gas from Tanzania and miles), will run from the oilfields to Tanzania’s Mozambique to consumers in Uganda, Rwanda, Indian Ocean seaport of Tanga. Congo and other countries in the region. Uganda’s crude is highly viscous, which means www.theglobeandmail.com/business/internationalit needs to be heated to be kept liquid enough to business/article-uganda-tanzania-oil-firms-signflow. accords-to-build-35-billion-pipeline 23
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Development - New Cities
"Wakanda City of Return" Project Starts in August THE WAKANDA CITY OF RETURN PROJECT, which was launched a year ago by the African Diasporian Development Institute (ADDI), Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly and other local partners Pelicape Group and Adepa Investment, is scheduled to begin August this year. The project is expected to create about 5,000 direct and indirect jobs and open opportunities in Africa and beyond to boost tourism development. The Director of Finance, African Diaspora Development Institute (ADDI), Olivier Kamanzi, disclosed at the second edition of the Diaspora Lecture Series, a Pan African Lecture series organised by the Obokese University of Excellence and the partner Obokese Foundation in Cape Coast, that The African Diaspora has been able to raise part of the projected funds in building the city and it will start soon. The lecture, held once every month, is aimed at encouraging political and economic integration among member states to help eradicate colonialism and neo-colonialism from the African continent. A project representative, Nana Obokese Ampah I (Apagyahen of Asebu Kingdom), disclosed that 35,000 acres of land have been secured in the Cape Coast Municipality and Abura-AsebuKwamankese (AAK) District of the Central Region for the first beneficiaries of the project. This project would consist of a 5-star hotel, retreat center, health resort, conference centers, entertainment, and continental corporate headquarters for the ADDI among others. The Director of Finance of ADDI said the city would serve as a home for the African Diaspora to learn more about their culture and history, which had been thrown out, to help build a new world for Africa. 24
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He called on Africans in the Diaspora to collaborate to make the dream a reality to help renew the minds of Africans. Mr. Kamanzi applauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for instituting the Year of Return initiative that had created more avenues for people of African descent, struggling in foreign lands, to return to their homes. ‘This is for us by us’ Addressing history students from the Aggrey Memorial Senior High School on the meaning of the Year of Return, the Executive Director of the PANAFEST Foundation, Rabbi Kohain Halevi, said it was time for Africans to renew their minds and accept who they were and where they were coming from. He urged parents and stakeholders to invest in the youth as they are the future of Africa, adding that they should not allow anybody to deceive them about their race and colours. Rabbi Halevi said Africans needed total liberation and emancipation to facilitate the development of the continent. The Executive Director of the Obokese Foundation, Ibrahim Kwame Baidoo, urged the youth of Central Region to position themselves well for this lifechanging project. “We don’t want this project to start with our own doing menial jobs but occupying management positions and leading sectors of the projects.” He also appealed to all indigenes of the land with requisite knowledge and expertise in project DAWN
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execution to come on board to see this project succeed. “This is for us by us.” 25
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https://3news.com/wakanda-city-of-return-projectstarts-in-august/
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Development - New Cities
Akon Hasn’t Even Built his First ‘Futuristic’ City yet, By Andy Mukherjee with Danielle Paquette in Dakar, Senegal
A computer model of the $6 billion “futuristic” city Senegalese American singer Akon announced he plans to build on the coast of Senegal. (KE International)
R&B ARTIST AKON has yet to come anywhere close to realizing his ambitious vision for a “futuristic” city powered by a cryptocurrency called “Akoin” and built on land given to him by the Senegalese government. But that isn’t stopping the “Smack That” singer from making plans to build a second Akon City — this time in Uganda. The East African nation has agreed to identify “a place suitable in Uganda that has not less than one square mile, which will be made available to him and his team,” Isaac Musumba, Uganda’s minister for urban development, said at a news conference Monday. Akon will be in charge of attracting
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investment and managing the project, and will consult with the Ugandan government to come up with a theme for the “satellite city.” “We would like to emulate what has been done elsewhere for us to have an Akon City here,” Musumba said, according to local media outlets. A Missouri native whose family hails from Senegal, Akon, 47, has spoken expansively about his desire to create a real-life version of Wakanda, the futuristic African kingdom portrayed in Marvel’s “Black Panther.” His plans for the first Akon City involves building luxury condominiums, a seaside resort, office parks and even a university in tubular, seemingly
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but Uganda is Giving Him Land for a Second
o
gravity-defying skyscrapers that resemble molten metal. Intended as an upscale destination for Black Americans, Akon City will be solarpowered and environmentally friendly, he has said. Residents and visitors will be able to make purchases with Akoin, which he envisions as a global currency. Akon just unveiled his $6 billion ‘futuristic’ city in Senegal. The reviews are mixed. Akon unveils plans for $6 billion city in Senegal R&B singer Akon unveiled plans Aug. 31 to move forward with construction of a 'futuristic' city in Senegal, named after himself. (Alexa Juliana Ard/The Washington Post) The singer’s splashy designs for what is now a farming village on Senegal’s coast have met with some skepticism. Locals point out that the metal and glass structures — which Akon says are intended to “look like real African sculptures that they make in the villages” — are ill-suited to the sweltering climate. Others note that despite Akon’s stated goal of using local craftsmen and materials, he’s tapped an Abu Dhabi-based architect and an American developer to build the city. (Akon explained last year that he didn’t want to “overthink” the project.) In a region starved of tourism, however, officials have been receptive to Akon’s promises to attract investment and create jobs. Last Friday, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announced that he had played host to the singer, whose full name is Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, and touted the country’s untapped potential as a vacation
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destination. “There’s so much about Uganda that I never knew existed,” Akon said at a news conference days later. “I’m determined to expose that. I want people to understand how beautiful Uganda is, and the best way to do that is to built my city here.” Construction on the city won’t be completed until 2036, the singer added, because of the amount of infrastructure, such as paved roads, that has to be built first. In Senegal, Akon has raised at least $4 billion of the $6 billion needed to build his city, and the project has yet to break ground. Uganda’s opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change, said on Tuesday that it was “a public secret” that Akon City would never come into existence, but that the government’s willingness to give away the land raised larger questions about whether officials were granting “sweetheart deals” to wealthy developers. A local investigative reporter, Canary Mugume, wrote on Twitter that he asked how much it would cost to build Akon City 2.0, but the singer dodged the question three times in a row. When asked whether ordinary Ugandans would be able to afford the services offered in the futuristic city, Akon responded by suggesting people in Africa suffer from a low sense of self-worth, delivering an impromptu lecture on how at one point in history, “we were kings, queens, richer than anybody you can think about.” “I don’t look at it as the standpoint of something that people can’t afford,” he added. “I know that if I put it there, they’re going to find a way to afford it because it’s going to motivate them.” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/04/06/ akon-city-uganda/ Image credit: en.numista.com, steemit.com, Blade HQ, 99bitcoins.com
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Development - New Cities
Konza Technopolis: Welcome to Silicon Savannah KONZA TECHNOPOLIS, AFRICA’S SMARTEST INVESTMENT destination will host the most creative, impactful technology that will disrupt industries and transform lifestyles. Designated as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the Technopolis provides unparalleled opportunities to deploy game changing technologies, make data driven decisions and deploy sustainable smart water and energy use that will lower the cost of doing business and open up economic opportunities for Africa. Most of residential parcels in Phase One have already been taken. All our parcels are fully serviced, with a plug and play utilities feature. The Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Africa’s most forward university, has began. A world class Digital Media City is on course. 262 acres of nature parks and recreational areas, keeping Africa’s promise of everyday interaction with nature are set. We’re building the city of the future!
Why Invest in Konza Technopolis Konza Technopolis Special Economic Zone represents a strategic opportunity to invest in the growth of the ICT sector in Kenya as well as the country’s overall economy. When completed, Konza Technopolis will be a world-class technology hub, home to leading companies in education, life sciences, telecom, and BPO/ITES. Commercial space for these uses will be complemented by diverse residential neighborhoods, hotels, a variety of retail offerings, community facilities, and other public amenities. Konza Technopolis will be a walkable city, one that includes high-quality public spaces, active and varied amenities, and short commute times between destinations. Konza Technopolis offers excellent connections within Kenya and the rest of the world through 28
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land and air. Konza is located 60 kilometers from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital and largest city. The A109 highway connects Konza to Nairobi, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and Mombasa, the primary port of entry to East Africa and Kenya’s second largest city. Konza’s world class infrastructure, high connectivity, active public realm, and cosmopolitan environment will allow companies to attract top talent and companies to the region.
Kenya has completed a 10 year Master Plan for Science and Technology Parks The Ministry of Education has completed a 10 year Master Plan for Science and Technology Parks (STPs) in Kenya, Principal Secretary State Department of University Education and Research, Amb. Simon Nabukwesi has said. He made the remarks while giving an address during the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) Africa Division Forum Webinar hosted by Konza Technopolis virtually. “This plan which provides a framework for the implementation of STPs in the next 10 years is indeed a major boost in our efforts to strengthen the country’s knowledge economy. We are at a good place as a country as we now have a framework for the implementation of the STPs in the coming years,”Amb. Nabukwesi said. The forum brought together IASP leadership, global players in the technology space and key stakeholders in the Science and Technology Parks to discuss The Place of STPs in Africa’s Economic Recovery-Impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement. Speaking at the same event, Amb. Dr. Samori DAWN
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Okwiya, Chief Executive Officer of NEPAD/APRM Kenya Secretariat, said the African Union had adopted Agenda 2063 which articulates the Continent’s sustained growth, competitiveness and economic transformation. “In order to enhance opportunities, there is need to focus on innovation and entrepreneurship through collaboration between public and private stakeholders at both national and regional levels to facilitate co-creation and commercialization of innovation,” he said. The event was hosted by Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA). The PS indicated that there are six STPs proposed within three technology corridors; Nairobi, central and western to be implemented going forward. The proposed STPs are Konza STP Nairobi Technopolis Corridor, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) STP Nairobi Technology Corridor, University of Nairobi STP Nairobi Technology Corridor, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology STP in central technology corridor, Moi University STP in western technology corridor and Maseno University STP in western technology corridor. In addition to the above, a virtual STP is also proposed for purposes of linking to all the other STPs and acting as the first step in the creation of a virtual workplace and market for the 21st Century. 29
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The PS further stated that the ministry, in collaboration with the National Commission for Science Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI), has also embarked on a programme to develop national physical sciences and research laboratories in energy, material science, engineering, minerology and nano technology, nuclear science and technology, forensic science, chemical sciences, metrology laboratory, bio technology, environmental science, theoretical and computational science as well as space science. On his part, Mr. Ochieng said the Government has invested in the National Data Centre at Konza Technopolis which will support smart city facilities at the Technopolis while also providing investors and innovators a platform to host and secure their data and applications at a one-of-akind data centre in the region. The data centre is also supporting innovators by providing access to connectivity and hosting services. Speakers during the conference were unanimous that commitment to cross border innovations will strengthen to economic situation of countries within the continent. https://konza.go.ke/2020/12/15/welcome-to-thesilicon-savannah/ https://konza.go.ke/ DAWN
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Development
‘We Cannot Drink Oil’: Campaigners Condemn East African Pipeline Project By Samuel Okiror
ACTIVISTS HAVE ACCUSED FRENCH and Chinese oil firms of ignoring huge environmental risks after the signing of accords on the controversial construction of a £2.5bn oil pipeline. Uganda, Tanzania and the oil companies Total and CNOOC signed three key agreements that pave the way for construction to start on the planned East African Crude Patrick Pouyanné of Total; Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu HasOil Pipeline (EACOP). But on san, and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda after signing agreements for the controversial pipeline. Photograph: Courtesy of Total – UganTuesday a letter signed by 38 da civil society organisations across both east African countries said the “These agreements open the way for the parties had failed to address environmental commencement of the Lake Albert development concerns over the pipeline and had steamrollered project,” Total said in a statement on Monday. “The over court and parliamentary processes. main engineering, procurement and construction Work is expected to begin this year on what contracts will be awarded shortly, and construction would be the world’s longest electrically heated will start. First oil export is planned in early 2025.” pipeline, which will move crude oil from fields The oil will come from two projects – the near Lake Albert in western Uganda 900 miles Tilenga project, operated by Total, and the to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean seaport of Tanga. Kingfisher project, operated by CNOOC, which Uganda’s crude oil is highly viscous, so it must be together are expected to produce up to 230,000 heated to be kept liquid enough to flow. barrels a day. Government geologists estimate Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, and his total reserves at 6bn barrels. Tanzanian counterpart, Samia Suluhu Hassan, However, Diana Nabiruma, of the Africa witnessed the signing of agreements between Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), shareholders, host governments, and on tariff and told the Guardian: “It is concerning that major transport between EACOP and the Lake Albert oil agreements are being signed and the companies shippers. are being given the go-ahead to award contracts Uganda discovered reserves of crude near and start developing the Lake Albert oil project. Lake Albert on its border with the Democratic “The oil projects pose major environmental risks. Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2006, and the Resources, some shared with countries such as landlocked country wants a pipeline to transport the DRC, Tanzania and Kenya, including Lake oil to international markets. Albert as well as Lake Victoria and rivers, are at 30
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risk of oil pollution,” she said. “The resources support the fisheries, tourism and other economic activities. They are also important for food and water security. They therefore must be conserved.” The #StopEACOP alliance campaign condemned the decision to build the pipeline, which it says will displace 12,000 families and would be a huge environmental risk at a time of climate emergency, when the world needs to move away from fossil fuels. Vanessa Nakate, founder of the Rise Up climate movement in Uganda, said: “There is no reason for Total to engage in oil exploration and the construction of the east Africa crude oil pipeline because this means fuelling the destruction of the planet and worsening the already existing climate disasters in the most affected areas. “There is no future in the fossil fuel industry and we cannot drink oil. We demand Total to rise up for the people and the planet,” she said. Lucie Pinson, of Reclaim Finance, which works to decarbonise the financial system, added: “We call on banks to publicly commit to stay clear of the project and investors to vote against Total’s climate strategy and the renewal of the mandate of its CEO Patrick Pouyanné at the group’s AGM in May.” Last week, more than 260 African and international organisations sent an open letter to 25 commercial banks urging them not to finance the construction of the EACOP. David Pred, of Inclusive Development International, which supports communities to defend their rights against harmful corporate projects, said: “The oil companies are trying to dress up the investment decision signing ceremony, but fortunately this climate-destroying project is far from a done deal. “Total and CNOOC still need to secure insurance and raise $2.5bn in debt financing for the EACOP to move forward and they are going to struggle mightily to find enough banks and insurance providers willing to associate themselves with such a project,” he claimed. Total said it had undertaken “rigorous”
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environmental and social risk assessment and mitigation strategies in relation to the projects. In its statement on Monday, it said: “All the partners are committed to implement these projects in an exemplary manner and taking into highest consideration the biodiversity and environmental stakes as well as the local communities’ rights and within the stringent environmental and social performance standards of the International Finance Corporation.” Pouyanné said: “The Tilenga development and EACOP pipeline project are major projects for Total and are consistent with our strategy to focus on low break-even oil projects while lowering the average carbon intensity of the group’s upstream portfolio. These projects will create significant incountry value for both Uganda and Tanzania. “Total is also taking into the highest consideration the sensitive environmental context and social stakes of these onshore projects. Our commitment is to implement these projects in an exemplary and fully transparent manner.” CNOOC has been approached for comment. But Nabiruma accused the two east African governments of racing to sign deals before their citizens had been told how any risks would be “avoided, minimised or mitigated”. Robert Kasande, Permanent Secretary at Uganda’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, said: “We are very mindful of the environment that we work in. It’s a very sensitive ecosystem. So we have put everything that we need to do in place.” He said the project was being conducted in accordance with the Equator principles – a riskmanagement framework adopted by financial institutions for assessing and managing environmental and social risk in projects. “This is a big project for us as a country,” Kasande said. “These resources that are going to be coming into the country are going to be a huge boost to this economy.” www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/ apr/14/environmental-campaigners-condemnuganda-total-cnooc-eacop-east-african-oilpipeline DAWN
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Development
Mastercard and Island Pay Launch World’s First Central Bank Digital Currency-Linked Card PRESS RELEASE
TODAY, BAHAMIANS RECEIVED even greater flexibility in how they shop and pay using the country’s digital currency, the first of its kind. Under a new program from Mastercard and Island Pay, the Bahamas Sand Dollar prepaid card gives people the option to instantly convert the digital currency to traditional Bahamian dollars and pay for goods and services anywhere Mastercard is accepted on the Islands and around the world. The digital Sand Dollar is issued by the Central Bank of The Bahamas and carries the same value and consumer protections as a traditional Bahamian dollar. The digital currency can be used to facilitate government disbursements, offer additional payment choices and build a more inclusive economy. In The Bahamas, there are 700 small islands and more than 5,000 square miles of water. Cash money movement becomes costly, which makes a central bank digital currency (CBDC) a preferred digital payment in the region. In the future, the Sand Dollar will be offered to tourists. Originally piloted in 2019, the Sand Dollar became the first fully-deployed digital version of a country’s fiat currency in October 2020. At that time, the Sand Dollar was exclusively accessed by registered users through a digital app at select merchants. Island Pay mobile wallet users can decide if they want to transact in Sand Dollars or Bahamian dollars at merchants using the mobile app.
Activating the Latest Technologies Mastercard’s innovative work with CBDCs supports governments around the world as they explore, test and deploy real-life use cases across 32
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existing payment rails. Its virtual testing environment enables the simulation of issuance, distribution and exchange of CBDCs between banks, financial service providers and people. Island Pay’s technology platform, combined with Mastercard technology and wide merchant acceptance, has the potential to help reduce the operational distribution costs of cash and modernize the overall payments system in The Bahamas. Central Bank of The Bahamas Governor, John Rolle, said: “We welcome this approach to combining digital currency use with access to foreign currency and other payment outlets. The Central Bank of The Bahamas will continue to encourage fintech developments that tie into the Sand Dollar infrastructure, while allowing us to satisfy best global practices for regulation of the space.” Richard Douglas, co-founder of Island Pay, said: “By working closely with the Central Bank of The Bahamas and Mastercard, we are able to issue a prepaid card unlike any other in the world. We are now able to bring immediate, critical benefits to our customers at a time when they are looking to find new, innovative ways to pay. The Bahamas is leading innovation in CBDCs, and we’re thrilled to be able to play an important role in helping to democratize access to currency, especially in areas that are currently underserved.”
Mastercard’s Innovation in Digital Currencies and New Forms of Payment DAWN
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Bahamian Sand Dollar
As part of its long-term strategy to enable all types of payments – card, ACH and blockchainbased – Mastercard has invested in the technology to be ready to explore and enable both CBDCs and privately issued stablecoins in partnership with governments, banks and fintechs. With 89 blockchain patents globally, and an additional 285 blockchain applications pending worldwide, Mastercard already has one of the payment industry’s largest blockchain patent portfolios to draw from. The company recently announced that it plans to support select digital currencies directly on its network, giving choice and flexibility to people and merchants. Each program will be evaluated against the principles Mastercard has established to guide its activities in this space. Through a dedicated crypto card program, Mastercard helps its digital currency partners accelerate their development efforts, from design and market entry to growth and global expansion. As a result, the jointly-created solutions have an ability to enable a more inclusive economy. If a consumer wants to spend their holdings, Mastercard enables this through our crypto partnerships including Wirex, Uphold, BitPay, and most recently, LVL. Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of Digital Asset & Blockchain Products & Partnerships
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at Mastercard, said: “This partnership is an example of how the private and public sector can rethink what’s possible, while delivering the strongest levels of consumer protection and regulatory compliance. We’re creating a lot more possibilities for governments, shoppers and merchants, allowing them to transact in an entirely new form of payment." www.mastercard.com/news/press/2021/february/ mastercard-and-island-pay-launch-world-s-firstcentral-bank-digital-currency-linked-card Media Contacts: Marcus Carmo, Caribbean Division, Communications, Mastercard +1 (305) 536-9476 | Marcus.Carmo@mastercard. com Andrea Denadai, Latin America & Caribbean, Communications, Mastercard +1 (305) 536-9476 | Andrea.Denadai@ mastercard.com Katie Priebe, Global Communications, Mastercard +1 (914) 707-9822 | Katie.Priebe@mastercard. com Patrick Erlich, Communications, Island Pay +1 (416) 318-3821 | media@islandpay.com Image credit: facebook.com
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Development
5 Nonprofit Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid By Ankit Thakor
• DID YOU KNOW THAT the average open rate for the nonprofit organization is around 25.17%, much higher than the industry average open rate, which is just 21.33%? According to Mailchimp ― a wellestablished digital marketing automation platform ― email marketing is one of the most effective channels for nonprofit organizations. Here are 5 nonprofit email marketing mistakes to avoid. As a nonprofit organization, email marketing should be one of your top priorities. To help you understand this, let’s look at Campaign Monitor’s research which states, that ‘donors prefer email.’ Around 42% of donors prefer to hear from nonprofits via emails. That means it’s time to work on your email marketing strategy. However, it can take a lot to make your email marketing strategy work. That’s why we bring you a list of mistakes that you should avoid in your next fundraising campaign.
1. Overlooking Mobile Users Gone are the days when people were restricted to their laptops for checking out emails. Now, 34
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• • •
mobile phones are used to check emails. OptinMonster states that 58% of individuals check their emails the first thing in the morning with a sip of a coffee. So you must optimize email templates for mobile users to ensure higher open-rates and click-through rates. Instead… • Use templates that are optimized for mobile devices • Avoid subject lines over 30 characters. Ensure the header text is compelling and no more than 40-50 characters. Make the image size and text compatible with each other. Have an appealing CTA button Link to a mobile-friendly landing page
2. Poor Segmentation For a nonprofit organization, the primary goal for sending an email is to grab donors’ attention, and if that’s true for you, too, segmenting should be the first thing you should work upon. An eyeopening report authored by Brett Schenker states, “Nonprofits lose about $15,000 per year of donations due to wrong targeting and missing out spam filters, which blocks the emails from prospects.” So, to ensure that your emails reach out to potential donors, segmenting must be taken seriously. Instead… • Make sure your users have opted-in to your email list • Get as much information from users as possible during the signup process to strengthen demographic segmenting. DAWN
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• Use an effective email tool for precise segmentation, with different messages for volunteers and donors. • Segment audience based on their area of interest and draft personalized content • Use a unique message strategy for donors depending upon their contribution. • Target an audience that actually/ frequently reads your emails • Try using different templates and messages for users that are not engaging with your current emails.
3. Buying Mailing Lists When it comes to email marketing, most nonprofits rely on buying mailing lists, and it has its own pros and cons. At the first glance, having thousands of email addresses seems like a great opportunity. However, the long term effects of using a thirdparty collected email database could be daunting. One of the main downsides could be a poor response rate or spamming of your emails. Instead… • Follow a personalized approach. Remember you’re talking to real humans. • Buy only from a reputed vendor. • If buying, ensure that the list matches your target audience and geographic region • Avoid using any spam buzzwords in the subject line. • Work on optimizing signup forms • Host webinars to reach out to a new audience • Use digital marketing as a channel and collect email addresses via social media marketing. • Insert social media sharing buttons on emails
4. Sending Too Many Emails A nonprofit’s objective is to do something good for society, and that must be the vision even while sending emails. When sending too many emails, the chances are high that your potential donors will block your email as spam. Platforms like Gmail consider an email unproductive for the receiver when the open-rate or click-through rate is low. And if such platforms find repeated emails, they will, by default, move it to the 35
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spam folder. This will damage your organization’s name and strain your digital marketing budgets due to lower ROI from such emails. Instead… • Decide upon the right frequency of sending emails depending upon statistics of essential metrics like open rates, unsubscribe rate, CTR, and conversation rates. • Pay attention to the week’s time and day – Sundays have the highest open rates; Mondays have the lowest bounce rate, Wednesdays have the lowest email available rates and highest bounce rates.
5. Using Bad Subject Lines It’s said that a clear subject line must always be creative and reader-centric, and if you want to catch the attention of your donors, you should refrain from using the same subject lines over and over. Though some words like “Giving Tuesday” & “Gift,” and “Give” almost always work, merely restricting them might not be helpful in the long run. Instead… • Draft subject lines based on the occasion. • Pose a question. • Use the power of emphasizing. • Create a sense of urgency • Remember to thank your donors
The Parting Note: As all say, email marketing is here to stay, so plan your digital marketing campaigns and email marketing strategies accordingly and maximize the ROI from your fundraising campaigns without committing any of the above-listed errors and mistakes. All the best for all future email marketing endeavors! If you would like more information on email marketing check out our blog post on Do’s and Don’ts of Email Marketing During a Crisis. https://nonprofithub.org/featured/5-nonprofitemail-marketing-mistakes-to-avoid/
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Development
Germany Will Pay Namibia $1.3bn as it Formally Recognizes Colonial-era Genocide By Nadine Schmidt, George Engels, Stephanie Busari and David McKenzie, CNN
MORE THAN 100 YEARS after the crimes committed by the German colonial power in what is now Namibia, Germany has formally recognized the atrocities committed against the Herero and Nama ethnic groups as genocide. Germany will support Namibia and the descendants of the victims with €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion) for reconstruction and development and ask for forgiveness for the "crimes of German colonial rule," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement on Friday. "Our goal was and is to find a common path to genuine reconciliation in memory of the victims. This includes naming the events of the German colonial period in what is now Namibia, and in particular the atrocities in the period from 1904 to 1908, without sparing or glossing over them. We will now also officially call these events what they were from today's perspective: a genocide," Maas said. The Namibian government saw the formal acceptance of the atrocities as genocide as a key step in the process of reconciliation and reparation, Namibian presidential press secretary Alfredo Hengari told CNN on Friday. "These are very positive developments in light of a very long process that has been accelerated over the past five years. People will never forget this genocide; they live with it. And this is an important process in terms of healing those wounds," he said.
Victim's Group Reject Deal
A memorial to the genocide of the Herero and Nama (1904-1907) committed by German colonial troops in the Namibian capital Windhoek. The inscription translates: "Your blood nourishes our freedom."
This is a sellout job by the Namibian government. The government has betrayed the cause of my people," he said. Rukoro said that Herero and Nama victim groups expect monetary reparations. He said reparations didn't need to go to individual people, but should be in the form of a collective payment to the descendants of those killed and pushed off their land during the genocide. He added that the German president is not welcome in the southern African country. "The president of Germany isn't welcome here as far as victim communities are concerned. He is persona non grata," he said.
However victim's groups have rejected the deal. Vekuii Rukoro, the Paramount Chief of Herero people, former attorney general and member of parliament told CNN that they were not part of the discussion with the German government. "Is this the kind of reparation that we are supposed A Bloody Conflict to be excited about? This is just a public relations. 36
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G peo
German troops killed up to 80,000 of Herero and Nama people in the southern African country between 1904 and 1908 in response to an anticolonial uprising, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. According to historians, the bloody conflict happened when the H e r e r o indigenous p e o p l e revolted a g a i n s t colonial t r o o p s over land seizures. G e r m a n y, w h i c h today gives development aid to Namibia, offered its first formal apology for
erman troops killed up to 80,000 of Herero and Nama ople in what is now Namibia between 1904 and 1908 in response to an anti-colonial uprising.
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the conflict in 2004. Both countries had been in talks since 2015 to negotiate compensation for the massacre by German colonial forces. Maas said in his statement that representatives of the Herero and Nama communities were "closely involved" in the negotiations on the Namibian side. "The crimes of German colonial rule have long burdened relations with Namibia. There can be no closing of the book on the past. However, the recognition of guilt and our request for apology is an important step towards coming to terms with the crimes and shaping the future together," Maas said. German media is reporting that an official request for forgiveness will be made by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a ceremony in the Namibian parliament. "A decision on a possible trip by the Federal President will be made after the governments have reached a formal agreement and in close consultation with the Namibian side," a spokesperson at the office of the Federal President told CNN. The announcement comes a day after French President Emmanuel Macron publicly acknowledged France's "overwhelming responsibility" in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and said only the survivors could give "the gift of forgiveness." In 1994, around 800,000 mainly ethnic Tutsis were killed by Hutu militias supported by the Rwandan government. France has been accused of failing to prevent the genocide and of supporting the Hutu regime, even after the massacres had started. www.cnn.com/2021/05/28/ africa/germanyrecognizes-colonial-genocide-namibia-intl/index. html
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Development
The Global Startup Awards Africa Seeks out the Best Technology Innovators from Around Africa By Tech Gist Africa
WITH THE LAUNCH OF NOMINATIONS for the Global Startup Awards (GSA) Africa, futureshapers from all 55 African Union member states will have the opportunity to compete in the world’s largest independent startup ecosystem-driven competition for the first time. The Awards provide visibility to the full ecosystem value chain, as well as important global connections and opportunities to develop partnerships across Africa. Despite the global pandemic’s consequences, more African businesses closed funding rounds in 2020 than in any prior year. We realized it was time to put Africa on the map by elevating the African innovation brand and displaying it to the world,” says Caitlin Nash, CoFounder of the Global Innovation Initiative Group, which owns the GSA Africa rights. “In addition to worldwide exposure, startups and those who assist them will have access to a global network as well as cross-border collaboration opportunities.” The competition honors and honours all components of the startup ecosystem, from the
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businesses themselves to the people who make them possible, as well as the organizations that collaborate with these visionaries to make amazing things happen. The GSA Africa goal and competition categories this year are connected with the African Union’s Agenda 2063, which aims to feed Africa, industrialize Africa, integrate Africa, and, ultimately, improve the quality of life for Africans. “This is the first year that GSA Africa will reach all 55 member states of the AU – a huge stride for African innovation,” Mara Zhanet, a GSA Africa Country Partner and the leader of Zambia’s Jacaranda Hub, concludes. The Awards will aim to connect rising African inventors to unrivaled prospects by bringing African invention to the globe and putting African inventors on the global stage.” The following are the categories for this year’s contest: • Women in Tech • AgriTech • HealthTech • CommerceTech • IndustrialTech • ESG Tech • Startup of the Year • Best Newcomer • Founder of the Year • VC of the Year • Best Accelerator/Incubator Program • Best Co-working Space Visit Global Startup Awards (GSA) Africa to enter or nominate a future-shaper from Africa. The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2021. www.techgistafrica.com/competition/the-globalstartup-awards-africa-seeks-out-the-best-technologyinnovators-from-around-africa/ DAWN
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Agriculture
Onward and Upward for Vertical Farming
BOWERY FARMING, a high-tech vertical farming company that grows greens indoors, has raised $300 million in funding at a valuation of $2.3 billion, it will announce today (May 25th). The round was led by Fidelity.
Not your typical farmer. Irving Fain, Bowery’s founder and C.E.O., began his career in investment banking, directed digital marketing at iHeartMedia and founded CrowdTwist, a brand analytics software company. He started the “smart” farm company, which uses technology to control and monitor growth, in 2014. The company’s farms are built near cities and employ workers with no agricultural experience to work tech-enabled greenhouses. “When you look at climate change, population growth, and urbanization, it’s clear that our agricultural system needs to change,” Fain told DealBook. Small-scale vertical farms in urban areas can’t feed everyone, but they are “simpler, 39
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safer, more r e l i a b l e and more sustainable,” he said. Stars are betting on it. Bowery’s latest funding round boasts celebrity investors like the actress Natalie Portman, the chef José Andrés and the singer-songwriter and actor Justin Timberlake. Its greens and herbs are sold in more than 850 stores, and it has recorded sales growth of some 750% since the start of 2020. www.nytimes.com/newsletters Image credit: Fast Company, refrigeratedfrozenfood. com DAWN
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Agriculture
From Better Feed to a Better Way of Farming By Silvia Mburugu and Lindsay Cobb
ANN WAIRIMU KIMANI is a goat and chicken farmer in Ikinu, Kenya. Several years ago, Ann’s neighbor gave her some dried calliandra leaves to add to her goat feed. After feeding the calliandra to her goats, Ann says the goats started doubling their milk production, going from .3 liters a day to .6 liters a day. She added the calliandra to her chicken feed and saw similar results, the chickens started laying more regularly and the eggs were noticeably larger. The calliandra made all the difference for this 30-year-old farmer who was regularly feeling the strain of climate change and food insecurity. Ann’s neighbor Eunice had started growing the calliandra after joining Trees for the Future’s Forest Garden program in 2016. Eunice learned how to use trees and sustainable farming practices to create a Forest Garden, which very quickly began providing food and income on a regular basis. It wasn’t until Ann saw the difference calliandra made for her animals that she decided to enroll in the program too. “We often welcome new farmers to the program after they see their neighbor’s thriving Forest Garden or purchase some of their quality produce at the market,” says Trees for the Future Executive Director John Leary. “It shows just how successful farmers in our program are when their neighbors follow in their footsteps.” After joining TREES in 2019, Ann’s Forest Garden is now providing her family with a regular and nutritional diet. Rather than growing just a few crops on her land and raising livestock on purchased food or open grazing, Ann now has a diverse farming system made up of dozens
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of species that work together for the good of her family, her animals, and her land. She has a variety of trees, grains, fruits, and vegetables, including maize, spinach, kale, cabbage, carrots, leeks, sweet potatoes, bananas, and more. “If you visited my farm two years ago, you would have never imagined that a successful farming story would come out of here,” she says. TREES staff say Ann is a natural at the Forest Garden Approach and her success in growing and selling crops and resources has made her more resilient to the challenges of farming. “We have been experiencing climate change. Most people could not find food, but now with the Forest Garden we have been able to diversify, utilize the space, and produce enough for the family,” she says. Ann is still raising goats and chickens, and, of course, she is now growing calliandra to supplement their diets. As she watches the price of goat’s milk rise, she hopes to purchase more goats with her Forest Garden savings in the near future.” https://trees.org/post/ann Image credit: www.fast-growing-trees.com, GlobalGiving, treecycler.com
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Pandemic-Mitigation
How Africa could use Solar Tech to Distribute Covid-19 Vaccines By Nell Lewis
AS VACCINES START TO BE ADMINISTERED across the world, the beginning of the end of the pandemic is at last in sight. But some countries are at risk of missing out. While the African Union has secured 270 million vaccine doses for distribution across the continent, in addition to those promised by the global vaccine program COVAX, this could still fall short of demand for the region. Even if enough vaccines are secured, there is an enormous logistical challenge: how to transport temperature-sensitive vaccines to places without reliable electricity and refrigeration. The answer is in developing a "cold chain" -- a network of vehicles, fridges and cold rooms -that can be used to transport the vaccine seamlessly from the manufacturer to the immunization point. "We should have been designing the cold chain the day we started designing a vaccine," says Toby Peters, a professor in cold economy at the University of Birmingham, in the UK, who is working with the UN-backed Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain (www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/
1.
2.
which can be kept at standard refrigerator temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (36 to 46 "We knew we were going to have to move billions degrees Fahrenheit), will be more feasible. of vaccines around the world, all the way out to rural Even so, existing cold chain networks will not communities, and that we'd need a temperature- be enough. Without new technology, up to 25% of controlled environment," he adds. vaccine supplies could be lost, says Peters. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has to be kept Solar-powered Refrigeration at minus 75 degrees Celsius (minus 103 degrees There are almost 600 million people in Africa Fahrenheit,) while Moderna's can be kept at minus living off the grid, and rural clinics often lack a grid 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit.) connection. These temperature requirements will be out of This is where solar energy comes in, says Hugh reach for most African countries, says Peters, but Whalan, CEO of PEG Africa (https://pegafrica.com), a options like the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, company that offers pay-as-you-go solar-powered centre-excellence-rwanda-aims-support-african-farmersand-rural) to improve refrigeration networks in Africa.
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3. 1. © Lukman Folade 2. © Gricd With a highly portable solution, Gricd hopes to distribute vaccines to remote and underserved communities. A direct air capture machine (or at least an artist’s rendering). Carbon 3. Engineering © Lukman Folade Powered by the sun, the Gricd cold boxes can be used in areas that are off the grid.
products to people in West Africa. In preparation for a Covid-19 vaccination drive, the company -- with funding from Power Africa, a network of private and public groups set up by USAid -- has started providing solarpower systems to off-
immunization points. Of the two fridge suppliers PEG Africa is working with, one has already received performance, quality and safety (PQS) certification from the World Health Organization (www.who.int), and the other is in the process of acquiring it.
Reaching the Last Mile
Before a vaccine is administered to someone, it typically has to travel from the manufacturer to an airport, to a national vaccine store, to a provincial vaccine store, to a local health center and, finally, to the end location where it's given to a patient. grid health clinics. "The last mile is the biggest challenge, and it's "Fridges need power to run reliably in order to where there's the biggest gap," says Peters. safely store vaccines, or else they will spoil. So we Gricd (https://gricd.com), a small Nigerian startup, provide the power," he tells CNN. is hoping to help fill this gap. It's building solarPreviously, PEG Africa's refrigeration efforts powered cold boxes for vaccine transportation had focused on establishing a cold chain for food that can be kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius products, helping produce get to market without (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit) and can be controlled spoiling. It is currently testing pay-as-you-go remotely and monitored in real time. solar freezers among fisherwomen in Ghana, The company says it has worked with Nigeria's Ivory Coast and Senegal. National Centre for Disease Control (https://ncdc. When the pilot finishes in the middle of this gov.ng) and the Nigerian Institute of Medical year, Whalan hopes to use the same financing Research (Nigerian Institute of Medical Research) during and distribution infrastructure to roll out solarsee page 44 powered fridges and freezers to health clinics and 43
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Pandemic-Mitigation Since they run off solar-powered batteries -which maintain a stable internal temperature for up the pandemic, helping to collect and transport to a week -- they are suitable for areas that are off Covid-19 test samples from remote areas. It has the grid, he adds. also secured partnerships with private healthcare They also contain a device that monitors location, humidity and temperature, and transmits this data to the distributor in real time. "It alarms you if something goes wrong -- if the temperature suddenly drops or if there's a blackout -- and you can take proactive measures to make sure the vaccines don't lose their potency," says Iortim. While Gricd products have not yet received PQS certification from the WHO, 1. Iortim says that the cold boxes are in the process of acquiring 1. © PEG Africa Providing solar power to off-grid clinics enables certification. He adds that the refrigeration as well as other medical procedures. product has been certified by 2. © Gricd the Standards Organisation of Nigeria. Cold Chain
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Vaccinating on an unprecedented scale
companies in South Africa, Ghana and Egypt, says Oghenetega Iortim, the company's founder. The boxes range in size from 15 to 100 liters, with the smallest able to transport around 200 doses of vaccine. The 15-liter box is designed specifically for the "last mile" -- the final stage of the journey. "It could fit into any existing transport medium, be it a boat, the back of a motorcycle, a bicycle, or a person's back," says Iortim.
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This is not the first time Africa has encountered the logistical challenges of vaccination. There have been mass child immunization drives, for example, as well as vaccine distribution for Ebola and other diseases. But these have focused on certain geographical areas or specific parts of the population, says Peters. "What we haven't done before is try to vaccinate the whole world as quickly as possible," he says. He hopes innovations in the cold chain for Covid-19 could produce wider long-term benefits, and be applied to both food and health. "As we come to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in new equipment ... are we designing a system to solve a problem today, or are we designing a system which has lasting legacy?" he says. www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/solar-techcould-help-distribute-covid-19-vaccines-in-africa/ ar-BB1cLoZq
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Pandemic-Mitigation
Africa May Not Reach Herd Immunity Against Covid-19 Until 2023 By Elmoudjaweb A RECENT WHITE PAPER by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) forecasting the world’s vaccination timelines estimates that Africa might not achieve widespread coverage against the novel coronavirus (defined as 60-70% of its population) until 2023. And for the continent’s poorest countries, “mass immunization will take until 2024, if it happens at all.” South Africa is the only country in the continent which the EIU expects will be able to vaccinate its population any earlier, forecasting mid-2022. The EIU also estimates similar delays and timelines for a handful of countries in South America and South East Asia. However, Africa is expected to be the region facing the most severe delays. One of the biggest factors the EIU cites in its analysis for the delayed vaccine rollout is the fact that more than 50% of the world’s vaccines have been “pre-booked” by predominantly wealthy countries, making up 15% of the world’s population. This is likely to exacerbate several local factors restricting vaccine rollouts, including logistics such as production capacity, supply chain, the availability
of healthcare workers, financing, and vaccine hesitancy. (Developed countries have also resisted calls to loosen intellectual property restrictions as a way of speeding vaccination.) The analysis also anticipates that some countries may not find vaccination worth their while. “The contrast between rich countries and poorer ones is stark,” writes EIU’s global forecasting director Agathe Demarais. “Most developing countries will not have widespread access to the shots before 2023 at the earliest. Some of these countries—particularly poorer ones with a young demographic profile—may well lose the motivation to distribute vaccines, especially if the disease has spread widely or if the associated costs prove too high,” the report states. Many African countries are relying on the WHOled initiative COVAX to vaccinate 20% of their population this year. But, the analysis notes, “COVAX supplies may be slow to arrive, especially if delays in the production for and delivery to richer countries push back delivery dates for poorer nations.” These protracted timelines are expected to further drag down the economies of developing nations which are already struggling to recover from pandemic-related lockdowns and disruptions over the last year. And without comprehensive global vaccination, the world risks not only a widening economic divide, but also the possibility that new variants or the coronavirus may emerge as a result of gaps, potentially bringing us back to “square one.” The continent’s response to the pandemic and its economic recovery could be buoyed by a few factors: its low coronavirus rates, its extensive experience handling infectious diseases, and the resilience of some of its more diversified economies. However these may not be sufficient to get the continent through to the other side if wealthy countries hoard their supplies.
A woman holds a placard during a protest against Covid-19 vaccination distribution inequality outside the Johnson and Johnson offices in Cape Town. 45
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https://elmoudjaweb.com/africamay-not-reach-herd-immunityagainst-covid-19-until-2023jaweb Source: Wire Services/ Quartz DAWN
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Pandemic-Health
Virus Variants Stoke Need for Vaccine Cash, Rockefeller Says By Jason Gale
A PLAN TO END the Covid-19 pandemic by speeding up immunizations could be financed through a record asset allocation via the International Monetary Fund, according to the Rockefeller Foundation (www.bloomberg.com/profile/ company/905192Z:US). The IMF should approve and swiftly distribute $650 billion in additional reserve assets to help developing economies vaccinate as much as 70% of their populations by the end of next year, the Rockefeller Foundation said in a report recently. Delaying immunizations raises the likelihood new variants will emerge that could cause “rolling outbreaks resulting in further economic shutdowns,” according to the 22-page report, whose contributors include former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Jeffrey Sachs, a professor of economics at Columbia University in New York. “Vaccine-resistant variants that mutate in one under-vaccinated country can quickly spread to one that’s been immunized,” said Rajiv J. Shah, president of the New York-based foundation, in the report. “Current vaccination plans and the funding behind them are simply not enough to protect us all.” The report details ways to leverage a large issuance and reallocation of IMF special drawing rights -- an international reserve asset created in 1969 -- which can be exchanged for freely-usable currencies. The report calls for wealthier countries to commit to voluntarily reallocating at least $100 billion of 46
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their unneeded drawing rights to provide further support to the developing world.
‘Liquidity Boost’ If approved, the new allocation would add a substantial, direct liquidity boost to countries without swelling debt burdens, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said last month. A formal proposal is slated to be presented to the IMF board in June. Financing from the World Bank, the IMF and regional development banks, including mobilized private capital, needs to increase by $400 billion to $500 billion a year as the world recovers from the pandemic to help assure a broad and sustainable rebound in emerging and developing countries, according to the report. If the virus is allowed to spread in countries with low vaccination rates, it’s likelier to mutate and generate variants that could bypass protection from inoculations, the report said. As a result, even countries with high vaccination rates would be vulnerable. The world is 4-to-6 times more likely to get a new variant from an under-vaccinated country that isn’t a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development than from a fully protected OECD country, it said. For every $1 spent on supplying poorer countries with vaccines, high-income countries would get back about $4.80, Rand Corp. said in a research DAWN
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brief last year. Any plan should incorporate strategies to mitigate the risk of future pandemics by addressing ongoing microbial threats, including antimicrobial resistance, said Olga Jonas, a senior fellow at the Harvard Global Health Institute, in an email. “What is really needed is an urgent plan for robust core veterinary and human public-health systems in all low- and middle-income countries,” said Jonas, who worked for more than three decades at the World Bank, including as an economist specializing
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in pandemics. Without such systems, any recovery will disappear when another outbreak isn’t controlled and becomes the next pandemic, she said. “The likelihood that it happens next year or in five years has not decreased because we already had a pandemic,” Jonas said. “There will be another one.” www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-06/ virus-variants-heighten-need-for-vaccine-fundsrockefeller-says Image credit: World Health Organization DAWN
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Pandemic-Mitigation
Epic COVAX COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Continues By Sarah Ferguson THE RACE TO END THE PANDEMIC is on, and UNICEF is playing a vital role in the equitable global distribution of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines. Between March 4 and March 9, planes carrying COVID-19 vaccine doses touched down in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and Uganda, adding to the growing list of countries that have received vaccine deliveries through the COVAX Facility since the first shipment arrived in Ghana on Feb. 24. In the past two weeks, more than 15 million vaccine doses have reached around 35 countries. Initial doses will be used to protect health care and frontline workers and other high-risk individuals. The COVAX Facility — a multilateral initiative co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), with UNICEF as a key implementing partner, leading on procurement and supply — aims to provide 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 1.2 billion doses to low- and middle-income countries, by the end of 2021. It will be the largest, fastest and most complex vaccination campaign in history. “We have equipped 251 community health centers in the districts with solar-powered refrigerators, and an additional 288 fridges are expected to arrive soon in the country," Fouet said, crediting the assistance of technical and financial partners. “Vaccines are lifesaving. No one is safe until everyone is safe." "We are talking about vaccines as a vial with medicine, but really it's about people," said Sara Beysolow Nyanti, U.N. Resident Coordinator in Nepal. "It's about the number of people who will be reached with services, the number of people who will have increased immunity against COVID-19." To track global COVID-19 vaccine deliveries through the COVAX Facility, visit the interactive UNICEF COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard (www.unicef.org/supply/covid-19-vaccine-market-dashboard). 48
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On March 5, UNICEF Representative in Malawi Rudolf Schwenk, left, and UNICEF Malawi Chief of Health Tedla Damte approach the plane holding Malawi's first batch of COVID-19 vaccines procured via the COVAX Facility. Malawi received 36,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine shipped from the Serum Institute of India in Mumbai. Malawi has also received 360,000 syringes and 3,625 safety boxes for the safe disposal of used syringes through COVAX. An additional 2.1 million syringes and 21,600 safety boxes have been dispatched by sea to arrive in mid-March. © UNICEF/
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Your generosity can help support UNICEF's work to ensure equitable, affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines for every country, regardless of income. Please donate. (www.unicefusa.org/ stories/covax-covid-19-vaccine-deliveries-ramp-africa-seasia/38287?form=FUNUNRDQFQB)
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On March 8, U.N. Resident Coordinator Myrta Kaulard, eft, and UNICEF Representative in Mozambique Maria Luisa Fornara meet the first COVAX shipment of nearly 384,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine upon arrival n Maputo. Another 2.4 million doses are expected o reach the country by the end of May. “The vaccine arrival today plants hope into all of us that soon we will be able to bring this suffering to an end," said Fornara. It is the light at the end of the tunnel. And the idea behind the COVAX facility is that this light at the end of the tunnel must shine for all.” © UNICEF/UN0427475/
On March 5, at Modibo Keita International Airport in Bamako, UNICEF Representative in Mali Sylvie Fouet, left, and WHO Representative in Mali Dr. Jean Pierre Baptiste celebrate the arrival of Mali's first shipment of 396,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines procured by COVAX. A total of about 1.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be delivered to Mali before the end of 2021. © UNICEF/ UN0426400/Dicko
Neuenburg
National Drug uthority (NDA) staff ember cross-checks oxes of COVID-19 accines at Entebbe ternational Airport Kampala. Uganda eceived its first onsignment of 64,000 doses of the straZeneca vaccine om the COVAX acility on March 5.
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Ethiopian Airlines on February 6, 2021 announced that it has delivered the first Covid-19 vaccine shipment to Africa. File | AFP The Citizen On March 7, Ethiopia received 2.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine via the COVAX Facility.
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Pandemic
World Bank Financing for COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Reac PRESS RELEASE NO: 2021/140/HNP
THE WORLD BANK HAS ANNOUNCED that it has reached $2 billion in approved financing for the purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines for 17 developing countries. This financing is part of the $12 billion envelope over 24 months for developing countries to acquire and deploy vaccines and strengthen their vaccination systems. For poorer countries financing is on grant or highly concessional terms. The Bank expects to support 50 countries with $4 billion financing for COVID-19 vaccines by mid-year. The $2 billion funding is supporting COVID-19 vaccination in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Honduras,
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Lebanon, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Tajikistan, and Tunisia. “Access to vaccines is key to altering the course of the pandemic and helping countries move toward a resilient recovery,” **said World Bank Group President David Malpass. **“Our programs are helping developing countries respond to the health emergency and have financing available for vaccines. As the world attempts to carry out the largest vaccination effort in history, we have stressed the need for countries with excess vaccine supplies to release them as soon as possible, and for financing commitments to COVAX to be encashed.” The Bank’s vaccine finance package is designed to be flexible. It can be used by countries to procure
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ches $2 Billion doses through COVAX or other sources. It can also finance other key deployment and health system strengthening activities, such as medical supplies, personal protective equipment, vaccine cold-chains, training health workers, data- and information systems and communications and outreach campaigns to key stakeholders which are key to ensure vaccination acceptance. The Bank has aligned its eligibility criteria of COVID 19 vaccines with the revised eligibility criteria of COVAX and other Multilateral partners. Additionally, IFC, the Bank’s private sector development arm, has a $4 billion health platform to increase the supply and local production of personal protective equipment in developing countries and unlock medical supply bottlenecks in emerging markets, particularly in medical equipment and vaccines. The Bank is working with governments and partners (UNICEF, the Global Fund, WHO, and GAVI) to assess the readiness of over 140 developing countries to deploy vaccines. Initial findings show that while 85% of countries have developed national vaccination plans, only 30% have plans to train the number of vaccinators needed and 27% have put public engagement strategies in place to address vaccine hesitancy. “To get a vaccine into someone’s arm, there is a whole system of interdependent actions that needs to function properly,” said Axel van Trotsenburg, World Bank Managing Director of Operations. “We are working together with the international community and partners to accelerate the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccines are a key element in how we return to school, to work, and to growth.” Since the beginning of the crisis, the World Bank Group approved $108.6 billion to help countries fight the health, economic and social consequences of the pandemic. The Bank is assisting over 100 countries with COVID-19 health emergency projects reaching 70% of the world population
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World Bank Group Response to COVID-19 The World Bank, one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, is taking broad, fast action to help developing countries respond to the health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19. This includes US$12 billion to help low- and middle-income countries purchase and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments, and strengthen vaccination systems. The financing builds on the broader World Bank Group COVID-19 response, which is helping more than 100 countries strengthen health systems, support the poorest households, and create supportive conditions to maintain livelihoods and jobs for those hit hardest. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/world-bankfinancing-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-reaches-2billion Image Credit: ABC News
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Governance
Ivory Coast’s President Ouattara Names Patrick Achi as Prime Minister By Al Jazeera English
© Achi previously served as chief of staff to President Alassane Ouattara [File: Luc Gnago/Reuters]
IVORY COAST PRESIDENT ALASSANE OUATTARA named a close confidant, Patrick Achi, as prime minister, following the death of the West African country’s second premier in less than eight months. Achi, Ouattara’s former chief of staff, has served as interim prime minister since Hamed Bakayoko, 56, was hospitalised this month with cancer. Bakayoko died on March 10. Achi’s nomination was announced in a brief statement by Ouattara’s current chief of staff, Fidel Sarassoro. Bakayoko’s death was another twist in a period 52
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of political turbulence for the Ivory Coast. He was appointed prime minister in July after his predecessor, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, died of a heart attack. Gon Coulibaly was slated to be the governing party’s candidate for the October 31, 2020, presidential election. However, his sudden death led incumbent President Alassane Ouattara to run and win a controversial third term, arguing a 2016 constitutional amendment reset the clock on the two-term limit. Opposition to Ouattara’s candidacy, which relied on a contested interpretation of constitutional term DAWN
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Celebration of the Sentence of Former Police Officer Derek Chauvin as Guilty of the Murder of George Floyd People celebrate the sentence of former police officer Derek Chauvin as guilty of the murder of George FLoyd, at the mural in tribute to George Floyd in the neighborhood of Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya, on April 21, 2021. (Photo by Robert Bonet/NurPhoto via Getty Images - www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-celebrate-the-sentence-of-former-policeofficer-news-photo/1232456603)
limits, led to unrest before and after the vote in which at least 85 people were killed. It was the country’s worst violence since the 2010-11 civil war. Achi and his government will need to address social tensions and take steps to support the economy as it recovers from the impact of the coronavirus. Economic growth slowed to below 2% in 2020 from 6.5% a year earlier. Political Career Achi, born in Paris to an Ivorian father and a French mother, was previously a member of the once-monolithic Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), which is now the main opposition group. 53
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His long ministerial career dates back to 2000, when he was minister of economic infrastructure and government spokesman when Laurent Gbagbo was president. He kept that portfolio for 17 successive years under five prime ministers, before being named secretary-general to the presidency by Ouattara. “He has been a very well-known political figure over the last two turbulent decades,” political analyst Rodrigue Kone told AFP news agency. “He can talk to everyone.” www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ivory-coast-souattara-names-patrick-achi-as-prime-minister/ ar-BB1f0sS9?ocid=msedgdhp
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Governance
Feared and Revered: Patrice Talon, Benin's 'King of Cotton' By AFP
BENIN'S PRESIDENT PATRICE TALON, reelected to a second term, first came to power in 2016 pitching himself as a successful tycoon who sought just a single term in office. With 86% of the vote in a low turnout, the man dubbed "the King of Cotton" secured another term at the helm of the West African state, after winning an election critics say was already rigged in his favour. For his opponents the April 11 ballot was another alarming tilt towards authoritarianism under Talon, in what was once a vibrant multi-party democracy. In January the president backtracked on his oneterm promise and announced he would run again. "He came to power with a touch of evangelism in politics," his communication advisor, Wilfried Houngbedji, told AFP. Later, said Houngbedji, Talon "became more realistic." With his designer clothes and sports car, 62-yearold Talon argues Africa will only catch up with the rest of the world if Africans themselves believe in it. "He wants to change mentalities. He wants to change his country's history and be remembered," said Houngbedji. "He's a perfectionist," said one of his close advisors. "He can walk into your office unannounced and immediately notice something wrong with the set-up."
becoming a pilot. Talon is a Fon -- one of Benin's m a i n ethnic and linguistic groups -and this has helped in his early career. W i t h businesses in the key cotton sector and running Cotonou's port, a regional maritime hub, Talon was ranked by Forbes in 2015 as 15th wealthiest sub-Saharan African, worth an estimated $400 million (337 million euros). He entered politics late and rose to power with no base, no network and as rival to then president Thomas Boni Yayi, a former ally who became a sworn enemy after the old guard politician penalised Talon's business. In 2012, Talon, who was abroad at the time, was accused of masterminding an alleged plot to poison Yayi. He was pardoned in May 2014, paving the way for his return to Benin and first election win.
Successful businessman
Fast growth
A man of modest origins from the port of Ouidah, Talon went on to study at Dakar's science faculty before transferring to Paris' National School of Civil Aviation (ENAC). Despite passing the entrance exams, he failed a medical test and was forced to give up his dream of
Benin recorded high levels of growth after Talon took steps to formalise the economy. The large majority of the population relies on the informal sector. But five years after he came to power, while the elite continues to say he is a visionary, the president
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Talon, who initially said he wanted to serve a single term, finally changed his mind in January this year to run again © ISSOUF SANOGO
is often criticised by the political class who sees him as arrogant. The country's intellectuals and even some in the private sector have questioned the constant indictments of opposition members and intimation of civil society representatives. After coming to power, Talon created a special court that critics say has become a tool used to eliminate his biggest political rivals. "If you play his game he leaves you alone, but if you go against him, he punishes you," one of his former advisors said. "Not being popular is a sign of success for him," said an ex-advisor, who described him as "a man with a strong personality, stubborn and who believes he is always right." Talon's close circle is made of a handful of advisors, many from outside the traditional political sphere or from the diaspora, and his wife Claudine Gbenagnon who yields significant influence. The president claims to be "a natural competitor"
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but "in reality he hates competition, and in business and politics he has always done everything to oust the competition." For Benin observers and experts, Talon was upset by a parliamentary decision to twice reject his plan for constitutional reforms. One of his former advisors says Rwandan President Paul Kagame made a strong impression on him when they met three months after his 2016 election. "He wanted to model his tenure on a charismatic political model and he found it in Kagame," said the source. Comparisons with Kagame, elected in 2000 and reelected in 2017 with 99% of votes, are frequent. Both Rwanda and Benin have enjoyed fast growth under leaders that have become both feared and revered. www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/feared-andrevered-patrice-talon-benin-s-king-of-cotton/arBB1fCdnn?ocid=msedgdhp DAWN
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Governance
Commander Says Africa is too Important for Americans to Ignore by Jim Garamone, DOD News
AFRICA IS A FASCINATING CONTINENT of tremendous possibilities but also tremendous dangers, and the U.S. ignores the nations of Africa at its own peril, the commander of the U.S. Africa Command said during an interview. "China and Russia don't ignore Africa, and that alone should say something," Army Gen. Stephen J. Townsend said. Africa has 13 of the 25 fastest growing economies in the world, Townsend said. In a time of climate change, Africa has 60% of the arable land on the globe. "This fact alone should show how important Africa is for the world," he added. The continent also has a plethora of strategic materials, such as cobalt, chromium, tantalum and more. African resources are critical to 21st century progress. Africa has a growing population, and demographers estimate that by 2050 one in four people on Earth will be African. The African continent is also a crossroads of the world. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Djibouti and Yemen is a choke point at the southern end of the Red Sea. There is another choke point between Sicily and Libya. The Strait of Gibraltar is between Europe and Africa. The recent blockage of the Suez Canal threw light onto two more choke points: the Mozambique Channel and the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Townsend said. These sea lines of communication are vital around the globe and are ever in Townsend's mind as he engages the nations of the continent. A number of Africa countries are among the "most fragile" in the world, Townsend said. These countries have ungoverned or little governed areas that attract violent extremist organizations, which capitalize on economic and political dysfunction to extend their reach.
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He said governments in these areas need help. "An African leader once said to me 'A drowning man will reach for any hand,'" Townsend said. "They are drowning in poverty and will take help from whomever it comes from." This offers a perfect opening for Russia and particularly China, Townsend said. "The Chinese sometimes refer to Africa as their 'second continent,' and some Chinese military leaders refer to the east coast of Africa as China's 'fifth island chain,'" the general said. China has its first overseas military base in Djibouti and has invested heavily in ports around the continent, he said. The Chinese are playing a long game on the continent. The Chinese Communist Party wants to change the Army Maj. international rules-based architecture to favor China. Economic pressure on African nations could gather votes in the United Nations and in other world bodies to do just that. Maybe not tomorrow, but some day. The United States, actually, is the preferred partner on the continent, Townsend said. "We were never a colonizing power in Africa, and we are regarded as an honest broker by many nations," he said. "In addition, our values are their values." Townsend said the U.S. could use this to gain access and influence with the nations of Africa without "debt-trap diplomacy" — a term that refers to China's lending practices. A number of violent extremist organizations operate in Africa, including al-Qaida affiliate alShabab in Somalia and ISIS allies. Al-Shabab has stated it wants to attack the U.S. homeland, and it is a major contributor to global al-Qaida.
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Gen. Joel K. Tyler, Africa Command's director of operations, meets Djiboutian Col. Dahir Hassan Abadid, commander of the armored regiment, while watching a live-fire exercise, Sept. 28, 2020. Townsend said the U.S. can help Africans confront these groups. "We say we work 'by, with, and through' our African partners, so much it is almost a cliche, but it is true," he said. "It's the only way to get a handle on this problem: African solutions for African problems is the way we work at Africom." More engagement is needed, the general said. Exercise African Lion and the Express series of naval exercises are important to develop the personal contacts needed to operate on the continent. In addition, having more African military officers and noncommissioned officers going to American professional military education would also benefit U.S. relations with the nations of the continent. The Ebola outbreak of 2014 is an example of what U.S. aid can achieve in Africa. When the disease 57
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first appeared, U.S. military epidemiologists worked closely with African medical professionals to contain the disease. They worked to educate populations on ways to stop transmission and developed procedures to care for those infected. U.S. Army units deployed to the region to build care facilities, laboratories and more. The epidemic ended without becoming a global pandemic. "Ebola is still present in some countries in Africa, but they learned how to contain it," Townsend said. "Sure, we helped them develop their capabilities, but they have [the] capacity to manage Ebola on their own now." www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/ Article/2580930/commander-says-africa-is-tooimportant-for-americans-to-ignore/ Image credit: Air Force Staff Sgt. Dana J. Cable DAWN
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Investment
African Stock Exchange/Bourse • Algeria • Angola • Botswana • Cameroon • Cape Verde Islands • Cote de Ivoire • Egypt • Ethiopia • Ghana • Kenya • Libya • Malawi • Mauritius • Morocco • Mozambique • Namibia • Nigeria
Algiers Stock Market Angola Stock Exchange and Derivatives Botswana Stock Exchange Douala Stock Exchange Bolsa de Valores of Cape Verde Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres UEMOA (Abidjan) The Egyptian Exchange Ethiopia Commodity Exchange Ghana Stock Exchange Nairobi Stock Exchange Libyan Stock Market Malawi Stock Exchange Stock Exchange of Mauritius Casablanca Stock Exchange Bolsa Valores de Mocambique Namibian Stock Exchange Nigerian Stock Exchange
• Rwanda • Seychelles • Somalia • South Africa
Rwanda Stock Exchange Seychelles Securities Exchange Somali Stock Exchange Bond Exchange of South Africa Johannesburg Stock Exchange
• South Sudan • Swaziland • Tanzania • Tunisia • Uganda • Zambia • Zimbabwe • Zimbabwe
Khartoum Stock Exchange Swaziland Stock Exchange Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange Tunisia Stock Exchange Uganda Securities Exchange Lusaka Stock Exchange Victoria Falls Stock Exchange Zimbabwe Stock Exchange
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www.sgbv.dz www.bodiva.ao www.bse.co.bw www.douala-stock-exc www.bvc.cv (in Portug
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change.com guese)
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Stocks Mirror the Economy Africa has around 29 stock exchanges representing 38 countries including two regional exchanges. Africa has become the newest destination for emerging markets investors. From 2000, according to the World Economic Forum, "half of the world's fastest-growing economies have been in Africa." By 2030 one in five people will be African. Combine the continent’s soaring population with technology, economic growth, increasing demand from its growing middle class, improvements in infrastructure, political stability, health and education, and Africa could be the next century’s economic growth powerhouse. Nobody can predict the growth trajectory with accuracy, but Africa is poised for growth. Profile: The Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM) is the regional stock exchange of the member states of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. The Exchange is located in Abidjan but maintains market offices in each of the affiliated countries. Being both an economic and political institution, the BRVM is governed by the provisions of the OHADA Uniform Act relating to Commercial Companies and Economic Interest Groups. The operations of the Exchange are entirely digital making it a technical success story on the continent. Dealing members therefore need not be present on the premises of the central office but can engage from their own offices which the bourse guarantees equal access regardless of the economic operator's location. https://afx.kwayisi.org/
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Investment
NBA Stars Like Kevin Durant and Kyle Lowry are Increasingly Pouring Money into Startups for the Thrill of Investing and a Chance to Break Down Barriers for People of Color By Avery Hartmans
Rich Kleiman and Ke 2019. Taylor Hill/Getty Im
From left: Rich Kleiman, Kevin Durant, André Iguodala; Rudy Cline-Thomas, and Pau Gasol. Lachlan Cunningham/Getty; Steeter Lecka/Getty; Pau Gasol/Getty; Astrid Stawiarz/Getty; Claudio Lavenia/Getty; Skye Gould/Insider
JASON GARDNER WAS SITTING at his desk last year when he was handed a printout of a Bloomberg article. Gardner, the CEO of burgeoning fintech startup Marqeta, read the note scrawled across the front: It contained the phone number and email address of Rudy Cline-Thomas, who was known for connecting athletes like André Iguodala and
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Steph Curry with Silicon Valley startups looking for investors. The old-school, snail-mail approach intrigued Gardner. He decided to reach out. One year later, Marqeta is a $4.3 billion startup backed by the likes of Iguodala and former Major League Baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez, and it's reportedly headed for an initial public offering.
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multimedia platform, Boardroom. "[Athletes] make more money than they'll be able to spend, most of them," Cline-Thomas told Insider. "There's a responsibility for them to be educated in what's going on around them. They obviously have a keen interest in this and learning something new, but it's the education to the broader public — I think that there's just so much we can do in having that microphone." For Cline-Thomas and Iguodala, who currently plays for the Miami Heat, it was their move to Silicon Valley in 2013 when Iguodala was traded to the Golden State Warriors that jumpstarted their investing career. Soon after, the pair invested in Walker & Company, a company that makes personal care products with people of color in mind. Cline-Thomas said that deal eased them into startup investing evin Durant on stage during the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit in because they could both understand the need for those types of products mages in the market, and it turned out to be a smart move: In 2018, Proctor & Gamble acquired "[Cline-Thomas] is my connection to that world, the company for an unknown sum, reported to be the world of athletes that want to invest," Gardner between $20 million and $40 million. Cline-Thomas said their investment philosophy told Insider. "They trust Rudy's forethought. He is the trusted confidant, the trusted connection to has shifted in the years since, and he cited Zoom as an example: They decided to invest over two Silicon Valley." Marqeta is now one of dozens of Silicon Valley years ago because they trust CEO Eric Yuan's startups backed by athlete investors, particularly vision and were emboldened by the fact that he those who play for the National Basketball had worked at the networking giant Cisco before Association. And that number is steadily ticking building Zoom. For Kleiman and Durant, being closer to America's up: In the last two months alone, a broad range of startups have received investments from tech capital also propelled their investment career. NBA all-stars like Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Their first investment came in 2016 when they Durant, Nets shooting guard James Harden, poured money into food-delivery app Postmates, and Washington Wizards point guard Russell another startup that has since had an exit — it was acquired by Uber last year for $2.65 billion. Westbrook. When Durant joined the Warriors shortly after, These investments reflect the thriving business Kleiman said the region's tech elite welcomed culture that has been cultivated in the league by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and LeBron them with open arms: Andreessen Horowitz James, as well the hard work behind the scenes founder Ben Horowitz hosted a birthday dinner for by people like Cline-Thomas and Rich Kleiman, Durant at his house soon after the athlete arrived Durant's manager as well as the cofounder of their in the Bay Area. Kleiman said luminaries like investment firm, Thirty Five Ventures, and their see page 62 61
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famed investor Ron Conway and YouTube's Chief Product Officer, Neil Mohan, were in attendance. "In that room, I just started creating relationships," Kleiman told Insider. "And I said to these people, 'Listen, I don't know anything about this. Like, I don't even know what that term is that you just said, but I do know that I'm a sponge for information, and so is Kevin, and we want to just learn.'" Kleiman said that was their whole business plan at first, to simply learn what Silicon Valley was all about and the best ways to get involved. He didn't want Durant just to be a celebrity investor, but rather a strategic partner who really knows his stuff. "The idea that there's not an education to it and that the work that has to go into it, at least to be good at it, is skipped because KD's KD," Kleiman said. "KD will be the first person to tell you, he put the work in too. He went to so many dinners with me in the Bay. We went to conferences that he looked at me with the dirtiest look until we went on stage, like, 'Why am I here on my g------ off day,' but you can't skip the process." Durant and Kleiman's Thirty Five Ventures has since invested in fitness-tracking company Whoop and fintech firm Brigit, and recently backed trading card company Goldin Auctions and Therabody, the company behind the popular Theragun personal massager. While Iguodala and Durant may have become some of the best-known athlete tech investors, and James may have built a multifaceted empire, they're among countless investors whose day job is NBA player: • Russell Westbrook recently led a $63 million investment in Varo Bank, a digital bank that aims to alleviate income inequality, and invested in alkaline water company Flow • James Harden backed home fragrance company Pura and invested in Therabody • Steph Curry, who plays for the Warriors, recently backed fitness startup Tonal and book subscription service Literati, and reportedly invested in Pinterest • Kevin Love, a forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers, backed therapy app Coa and 62
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▲Golden State Warriors point guard Steph Curry. Eric Gay/AP Images
▼Kyle Lowry holds the championship trophy during the Toronto Raptors victory parade following their NBA Finals win in 2019. Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
previously invested in smart blender company Vejo • Draymond Green, who plays for the Warriors, invested in Smile Direct Club, Rumble Boxing, and James' Uninterrupted media brand • Harrison Barnes, a forward for the Sacramento Kings, has backed Beyond Meat and sneaker marketplace Goat DAWN
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• Carmelo Anthony, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, invested in Lyft and Casper, among others Pau Gasol, who won two championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and currently plays for Barcelona's basketball team, is another Therabody backer, as well as an investor in BetterUp, a professional coaching platform. He told Insider by email that he's interested in investing in laterstage startups that share his values, and that he was inspired by Lakers owner Magic Johnson's business acumen, as well as Kobe Bryant's. "More recently, my beloved friend Kobe Bryant was an inspiration to me, and I could see how he was able to channel some of his passion from the basketball court into partnering with certain companies," Gasol said. "He had some major successes — like Body Armor — because he always aimed to understand the product and what made it unique, understand the strategy of the company, and figure out what he could do to help the company achieve its goals." Gasol said he thinks athletes are attracted to the "thrill ride" of investing — the competition to get in on a deal, the possibility that a startup could become a unicorn, and the "promised land" of an exit. But retirement is a factor, too. "They want to find something that excites them and where they can apply the skills they have learned along the way," Gasol said. "Investing in startups, as long as you know what you are doing and you have the right advisors to help you make the right decisions, can be one of those areas." 'We want to create our own table' But the investment culture that NBA players have cultivated goes deeper than just returns, says Kyle Lowry, who plays for the Toronto Raptors. Lowry has been in the league for 14 years and said he began realizing as he got older that he had the time to educate himself on what was going on in the tech industry. Lowry said he's most interested right now in putting money into healthcare, cryptocurrencies, and renewable energy, and he invested in healthcare firm Spring Health's Series B last November. He told Insider that investing for him is about
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building generational wealth and breaking down systemic barriers for people of color. "Getting the African-American, the Black person into those types of positions, it changes the outlook of the culture, right?" Lowry said. "It changes the thought processes of who these people are." Lowry cited Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, and LeBron James as athletes who were ahead of the curve, as well as Junior Bridgeman, who created a fast-food empire after retiring from the NBA and recently bought Ebony magazine for $14 million. That's the culture that athletes are trying to grow, Lowry said. "We don't want to just be sitting at the table with everybody else — we want to create our own table and bring people that we want to be in there, to have people of our color at the table with us," he said. Cline-Thomas, Iguodala's business partner, said that's what drives him to help athletes invest in startups, beyond the financial gain. While corporate America has come to recognize the importance of diversity inside their companies — spending money on racial equality initiatives, diversifying their leadership, and coming out in support of movements like Black Lives Matter — it hasn't done enough to open doors for the Black community. But giving more people of color the opportunity to invest in high-growth startups will, Cline-Thomas said. "We hear about all the companies that are going public and all the different people that are investing in them, and unfortunately, not too many — hardly any, if any — African-Americans are on the cap table," he said. "They're creating billions of dollars of value, but it's going into the same pockets." Now, after making dozens of investments over the past six years or so, Cline-Thomas said things are slowly starting to change. "There is a gap that was created; I think the athletes are helping tighten the gap," he said. "And that's the seat that I'm sitting in right now — we opened the door, but how to keep the door open for the broader culture." www.businessinsider.com/nba-players-techinvesting-kevin-durant-andre-iguodala-kylelowry-2021-3 DAWN
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Ku Ne
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CEO Babs Ogundeyi Image Credits: Kuda
CHALLENGER BANKS CONTINUE TO make significant advances in attracting customers away from the big incumbents by providing more modern, user-friendly tools to manage their money. Today, one of the trailblazers in this area, Kuda Technologies (https://kuda.com), is announcing funding to continue building out its specific ambition: to provide a modern banking service for Africans and the African diaspora, or as cofounder and CEO Babs Ogundeyi describes them, “every African on the planet, wherever you are in the world.” The company, which currently offers mobile-first banking services in Nigeria, has picked up $25 million in a Series A being led by Valar Ventures, the firm co-founded and backed by Peter Thiel, with Target Global and other unnamed investors participating. This is the first time that Valar — 64
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which has invested in a number of fintech startups, including N26, TransferWise, Stash and, just in the last week, BlockFi and BitPanda — has backed an African startup. Kuda currently provides services for consumers to save and spend money, and it has recently introduced overdrafts (essentially revolving credit for individuals). Ogundeyi said in an interview that the plan is to use these new funds to continue expanding its credit offerings, to build out services for businesses, to add in more integrations and to move into more markets. The funding is coming on the heels of very strong growth for Kuda, which is co-headquartered in London and Lagos. When we last wrote about the startup, four months ago, it had just closed a seed round of $10 million led by Target Global. That was, at the time — and DAWN
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uda Raises $25M more led by Valar to Become the eobank for ‘Every African on the Planet’
ngrid Lunden
I think still is — the largest-ever seed round raised by a startup out of Africa, and thus as much of a milestone for the tech industry there as it was for Kuda itself. At the time of the seed round, Kuda had registered 300,000 Image Credits: Kuda customers: now, that figure has more than doubled to 650,000, and tellingly, that base is spending more money through the Kuda app. “In November we were doing about $500 million in transactions per month,” Ogundeyi said, for services like bill payments, card transactions and phone top-ups. “We closed February at $2.2 billion.” Kuda, as we described in our profile of the company when covering its seed round, is following in the footsteps of a number of other so-called “neobanks”, building a suite of banking services with a more accessible user interface and a more modern approach: you interact with the bank using 65
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a mobile app, and in addition to basic banking services, it provides tools to help people manage their money more intelligently. But Kuda is also different from many of these, specifically because it taps into some financial practices that are unique to its market. As Ogundeyi describes it, most people who are employed by companies will have “salary accounts” at banks, where companies pay in a person’s wages on a regular basis. These will typically be at incumbent banks, but they do not offer the same ranges of services to customers. No mobile apps, no facilities to buy mobile topups or make other kinds of bill payments, no AIbased calculators to figure out your monthly spend and provide suggestions on how to manage your budget, and so on. That has opened a gap in the market for others to provide those services in their place. Kuda’s deposits, Ogundeyi said, typically start as basic transfers that people make from those “salary accounts” elsewhere. These start out small, maybe 20% of a person’s wages, but as those users find themselves using Kuda’s payment and other tools more, they are increasing how much they transfer in each payment period. “As the trust increases you’re naturally more comfortable having money with Kuda,” he said. The next stage from that will be people depositing money directly with Kuda. A small minority already do this, he added, although the startup “has a bit more work to do” to get more companies integrated into its platform. (This is one of the areas that will be developed with this latest round of funding.) In turn, having more money in Kuda accounts is likely to spur another wave of services being see page 66
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Investment to expand its service, another area where this funding will go: “It will let us fast-track teams, onturned on at the startup, such as loans with more the-ground operational teams,” he said. competitive interest rates, because they will not The bigger picture is that the market for just be based on how much money people have financial services targeting Africans has been on but also their spending histories on the platform. a significant upswing and so we will be seeing a “We can offer loans to salaried customers instantly lot more activity coming out of the region, not just as long as their salary is with Kuda,” he said. from home-grown startups, but also out of other Much of this is being enabled because of how tech companies increasingly doing more business Kuda is built. A lot of challenger banks have tapped in that part of the world. into a world of finance and banking APIs built by Cases in point: In addition to Stripe acquiring another wave of fintech startups, partnering with other banks to provide backend deposit and other services: their value-add is in building efficient customer service and tools to help people manage and borrow money in smarter ways. Kuda, on the other hand, has its own microfinance banking license from the central bank of Nigeria. This means that on top of building those same money management services, Kuda can also issue debit cards (in partnership with Visa and Mastercard), manage payments and transfers, and build all of the services in the stack itself, including those Nigerian payments company Paystack last salary account services and loans. (Kuda year, just earlier this week, PayPal announced a does have partnerships with incumbent deal with Flutterwave to bring PayPal services banks, specifically Zenith Bank, Guaranteed to more merchants in the region — specifically Trust and Access Bank, for people to come in so that PayPal customers can pay merchants in for physical deposits and withdrawals when the region using PayPal rails. Square’s CEO, Jack needed.) Dorsey, meanwhile, never did make his intended While the service is still only live in Nigeria, the move to the continent — COVID-19 has derailed “vision is still to serve all Africans in Africa as well many plans, as we all know — but it shows that as outside of it,” Ogundeyi said. the company is trying not to overlook opportunities The first step of that will likely be Nigerians there, either. outside of Nigeria — most likely in the U.K., where PayPal, to be clear, has been active in Nigeria Kuda already has a headquarters, and where it has since 2014, but partnering with a significant player a ready market: London alone has been estimated in the region represents an important step for it: to be home to upwards of 1 million Nigerian Flutterwave itself earlier this month raised $170 immigrants and people of Nigerian descent (the million and became Africa’s latest unicorn, in what number of U.K. residents actually born in Nigeria is still a pretty small list. is considerably smaller, more like 200,000: that is The fact that there is so much more to be the diaspora at work). done with payments and more financial services He added that the startup is also at work on leaves the door open wide for Kuda to move in a preparing for the next countries on the continent number of different directions if it chooses. Having Kuda Technologies
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$2 Million Milli Fund F d to t Invest I t in i Up-and-Coming U d C i Creators C t By Jacob Kastrenakes MRBEAST SAID LAST YEAR that he wanted a way to invest in up-and-coming creators, help them blow up, and get a cut of their business in return — and today, he’s announcing a plan to do just that. The hit YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is launching a $2 million investment fund that will offer creators up to $250,000 in exchange for a stake in their channels. The fund is part of a new company called Creative Juice (https://getjuice.com), in which Donaldson is an investor, and which was announced this afternoon in The Information. “We’re gonna make sure we find [creators] that actually need a giant cash inflow and aren’t just trying to go buy a Lamborghini,” Donaldson told The Information. Details about the investment fund are limited right now. Creative Juice hasn’t said when it will launch or what type of creators it’s looking to invest in. Donaldson said the idea is to help YouTubers “pour gas on the fire” the way a business might by raising
an influx of cash once they’re already growing quickly. MrBeast is one of the biggest creators on YouTube. He has nearly 56 million subscribers and gets tens of millions of views per video (his most recent, posted a week ago, already has 35 million views). He’s known for pulling off goofy, supersized stunts — like making a “2,000 gallon” cereal bowl — but mainly, he’s known for giving away cars, houses, and cash as part of his videos. The investment fund is just one part of what Creative Juice plans to offer. The company is developing tools to help creators track their performance across platforms. Investors are calling it “Square for creators” and say it plans to launch a suite of products to help creators operate more like small businesses.
customers in two countries, especially with one foot in the developed market and another in an emerging market, for example, gives the company an interesting window into the world of remittances. Money transfer has been one of the very biggest, and most important financial services for African diasporas — alongside those from many other emerging markets. Even in cases where people are “unbanked” and have no other financial footprints, they have been turning to remittance services to send money home to their families from abroad. Kuda, with its integrations into people’s salaries, could easily become an efficient, one-stop-shop conduit for that activity too. (That’s one reason, likely, that remittance startup, Remitly, has also moved into starting to offer accounts to its users in originating countries.)
All of this to say that Valar’s making a new kind of bet here, but one laden with possibilities and a differentiated approach compared to the rest of its investment activities. “Nigeria is at a tipping point in the adoption of digital banking,” noted Andrew McCormack, a general partner and co-founder at Valar, who led its investment here. “With the rapidly growing, youthful population who are open to new financial alternatives, Kuda is well-positioned to benefit and will transform the landscape of African banking. We are excited to lead their Series A and continue on the journey alongside Kuda.”
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www.theverge.com/2021/3/24/22348926/mrbeastcreator-investment-fund-creative-juice Image credit: Juice 2020
https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/18/kuda-raises25m-more-led-by-valar-to-become-the-neobankfor-every-african-on-the-planet Image credit: macjordangh.com
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Nairobi is Africa’s Most Innovative City, Report Shows By TechGist Africa
NAIROBI WAS RANKED FIRST in Africa for innovation in the newly published Knight Frank Africa Horizons report. Cape Town came in second, Kampala third, and Cairo and Johannesburg in fourth and fifth position, respectively. The ability of African cities to recover from the pandemic will be determined by their ability to innovate, provide long-term social solutions to their citizens, attract funding, and generate new demand for space, according to the report. To arrive at a specific innovation ranking, the study examined over 100 data points applied to 29 capital cities from a long list of over 500 cities 68
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in Africa. The three components examined where innovation activity was focused, such as the total number of startups, the amount of innovation funding, and innovation infrastructure, such as the number of research institutions, with Nairobi emerging as the top performer. ‘Innovation, combined with economic development, will push the next decade of investment in Africa,’ says Tilda Mwai, a Knight Frank Africa researcher. Cities with above-average innovation scores and a strong economy would likely attract lower-risk investors. DAWN
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The following are the top ten most innovative cities in Africa according to the report:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 69
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8. Dakar, Senegal 9. Accra, Ghana 10. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia You can download the full report via this link (https:// biz-file.com/f/2104/Africa_Horizons_2021_Full_ Final-compressed.pdf). https://furtherafrica.com/2021/04/24/nairobi-isafricas-most-innovative-city-report-shows/ Image crredit: imgkenya.com
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How to Attract Angel Investors in 2021 By HEIDI ZAK @HEIDIZAKS
IN ADDITION TO BEING the CEO of ThirdLove, I am an active angel investor--predominantly in consumer-focused women-led startups. As an angel investor, I am always receiving inbound pitches from founders looking to raise their preseed, seed, and Series A rounds. Despite what the pandemic has done to businesses, the economy, and society as a whole, there has been no slowdown in deal flow for earlystage investors. If anything, the general consensus in the entrepreneurship community is that now is a terrific time to start a company--because there are an abundance of problems still to be solved in the world. That said, just because a lot of entrepreneurs want to start a business doesn't mean they all receive funding. As an angel investor and someone who has built and is still running a company that is scaling, there are a few things I look for in every founder and startup I invest in. So if you are starting a business, thinking about starting a business, or already well on your way and looking to raise your next round, here are a few things I encourage you to do to build excitement and successfully raise funding.
1. Make your business easy to understand. Do one thing, and do it extremely well.
get a firm grasp on what it is the business actually does. What's the goal? What's the one thing the business will be known for? What's the problem, what's the unmet need, and (in a single sentence) what's the solution? Bam, bam, bam. If you can't explain what problem your business solves, how, and why, in a sentence or two, then chances are you aren't quite sure either. And if you aren't 100 percent sure of what problem your business is solving in the world, investors aren't going to know what they're investing in.
2. Become close to profitable before trying to raise money. Almost all the investments I've made over the past few years have been in companies that were profitable or very close to profitable. This isn't true for every angel investor (there are plenty of investors in Silicon Valley who bet on companies knowing they won't be profitable for many, many years). But since I primarily focus on consumer businesses, I expect the founding team to have already made a bit of money before seeking additional investment. The reason is that, in 2021, it has never been easier to beta test consumer products, gather feedback from customers, and start generating revenue on the Internet. Once that milestone has been reached, and the team has gathered some data around their unit economics, customer acquisition costs, and so on, the business becomes much more investable-because now, as an investor, I know my money is being used to accelerate something that's already working.
Rome wasn't built in a day. One of the biggest reasons entrepreneurs struggle to raise money is because they can't decide which one of their ideas is their "core competency" and, as a result, try to build them all. What this does, however, is make it very difficult 3. Show you have the energy and for customers, investors, and even employees to
dedication to build a meaningful
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company. At the end of the day, angel investors bet on founders and founding teams. I have certainly made a few investments that bet much more on the founder than on the business. I call these types of founders "hustlers," because something about their energy tells you they are willing to do whatever it takes to build a business. They might need to go through a few different iterations to get there, but they are determined to get there. A few signals I look for: The founders have great energy, and a true passion for what they are building and how they are helping consumers. The founders have some sort of unfair advantage, such as access to other influential people, a large social media following, a unique combination of skill sets, etc. 71
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The founders are good listeners, they are curious, and they showcase grit. That said, at the end of the day, your business needs to make sense for investors to get on board. Very few angels will "take a chance" on someone just because that person is excited about entrepreneurship (and those angels are almost always family members or family friends). The real way to determine whether or not your business is investable is if you share what you're working on with someone and they immediately say, "I love it. How can I help?" That's a sign you're on to something, and your business is ready to move to the next level. www.inc.com/heidi-zak/how-to-attract-angelinvestors-in-2021.html Image credit: www.tdameritrade.com
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Airtel Africa’s Mobile Money Business Gains $100m Investment from Mastercard By Africa Business
Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, recently announced the signing of an agreement under which Mastercard, a leading innovator and global technology company in the payments industry, will invest $100m in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (“AMC BV”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Airtel Africa plc (the “Transaction”). AMC BV is currently the holding company for several of Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations and is intended to own and operate the mobile money businesses across all of Airtel Africa’s fourteen operating countries. 72
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The Transaction values Airtel Africa’s mobile money business at $2.65bn on a cash and debt free basis. Mastercard will hold a minority stake in AMC BV upon completion of the Transaction, with Airtel Africa continuing to hold the majority stake. The Transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including necessary regulatory filings and approvals, and the transfer of specified mobile money business assets and contracts into AMC BV. Alongside the investment, the Group and Mastercard have extended commercial agreements and signed a new commercial framework which DAWN
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will deepen their partnerships across numerous geographies and areas including card issuance, payment gateway, payment processing, merchant acceptance and remittance solutions, amongst others. Following the announcement on 18 March 2021 of $200m investment in AMC BV by TPG’s The Rise Fund, and the sale of the Group’s telecommunication towers companies in Madagascar and Malawi on 23 March 2021, the Transaction is a continuation of the Group’s pursuit of strategic asset monetisation and investment opportunities. As previously announced, Airtel Africa aims to continue to monetise its mobile money business with minority investments up to a total of 25% of the issued share capital of AMC BV, and to explore the potential listing of the mobile money business within four years. The proceeds from the Transaction will be used to reduce Group debt and invest in network and sales infrastructure in the respective operating countries.
to all the businesses that are intended to be transferred to AMC BV) delivered a strong operational performance: » Generated revenue of $110m ($440m annualised), and underlying EBITDA of » $54m ($216m annualised) at a margin of 48.7%. » Year on year revenue growth for the quarter was 41.1% in constant currency, largely driven by 29% growth in the customer base to 21.5m, and 9.7% ARPU growth. » Growth in transaction value was 53.0% to $12.8bn ($51bn annualised). Our mobile money business benefits from strong network effects with our core telecom business through the extensive distribution platform of kiosks and mini shops as well as dedicated Airtel Money branches supplementing our extensive agent network, to facilitate customers’ assured wallet and cash. We have a clear strategy to continue to drive sustainable long-term growth in Airtel Money with a focus on assured float availability, distribution expansion and increased usage cases for our customers. In this year alone, in addition to Mastercard, we have added partnerships with Samsung, Asante, Standard Chartered Bank, MoneyGram, Mukuru and WorldRemit to expand both the range and depth of the Airtel Money offerings and to further drive customer growth and penetration. The profits before tax in the full year ending 31 March 2020 and value of gross assets as of that date, attributable to the mobile money businesses were $143.4m and $463.2m, respectively.
Airtel Africa mobile money services Operating under the Airtel Money brand, Airtel Africa’s mobile money services is a leading digital mobile financial services platform catering to a large addressable market in Africa (characterised by limited access to formal financial institutions with limited banking infrastructure) and includes mobile wallet deposit and withdrawals, merchant and commercial payments, benefits transfers, loans and savings, virtual credit card and international money transfers. Mobile money services are available across the Group’s 14 countries of operation, however in Nigeria the Group offers Airtel Money services Key elements of the Transaction through a partnership with a local bank and has » Agreement values Airtel Africa’s mobile money applied for its own mobile banking licence. It is the business at $2.65bn on a cash and debt free intention that all mobile money operations will be basis. owned and operated by AMC BV. » AMC BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Airtel In our most recent reported results for Q3, the see page 74 mobile money service segment (corresponding 73
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Investment AIRTEL from page 73 Africa, is currently the holding company for several of Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations; and is intended to own and operate the mobile money businesses across all of
Airtel Africa’s fourteen operating countries once the inclusion of the remaining mobile money operations under AMC BV is completed. » Mastercard (through one of its wholly owned subsidiaries) will invest $100m through a secondary purchase of shares in AMC BV from Airtel Africa. The transaction will close in two stages. $75m will be invested at first close, once the transfer of sufficient mobile money operations and contracts into AMC BV has been completed, with $25m to be invested at second close upon further transfers. » Airtel Africa aims to explore the potential listing of the mobile money business within four years. Under the terms of the Transaction, and in very
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limited circumstances (in the event that there is no Initial Public Offering of shares in AMC BV within four years of first close, or in the event of changes of control without Mastercard’s prior approval), Mastercard would have the option, so as to provide liquidity to them, to sell its shares in AMC BV to Airtel Africa or its affiliates at fair market value (determined by a mutually agreed merchant bank using an agreed internationally accepted valuation methodology). The option is subject to a minimum price equal to the consideration paid by Mastercard for its investment (less the value of all distributions and any proceeds of sale of its shares, and with no time value of money or minimum built in) and a maximum number of DAWN
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shares in AMC BV such that the consideration does not exceed $200m. The Transaction is expected to reach first close over next three to four months. From first close, Mastercard will be entitled to certain customary information and minority protection rights. Raghunath Mandava, CEO of Airtel Africa, commented: “With today’s announcement we are pleased to welcome Mastercard as an investor in our mobile money business, joining The Rise Fund which we announced two weeks ago. This is a continuation of our strategy to increase the minority shareholding in our mobile money business with the further intention to list this business within four years. We are significantly strengthening our
existing strategic relationship with Mastercard to help us both realise the full potential from the substantial opportunity to improve financial inclusion across our countries of operation. The combination of our extensive customer base and distribution platforms and Mastercard’s products and services, innovation and know how, mean we can together accelerate demand and drive growth in financial services for the benefit of all our customers and markets.” https://africabusiness.com/2021/04/01/airtelafricas-mobile-money-business-gains-100minvestment-from-mastercard Image credit: financialafrik.com, dhahabu.co.ke, https://discount99.us/Airtel, blogspot.com
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World’s First Wildlife Bond to Track Rhino Numbers in Africa By Antony Sguazzin
Black rhino numbers have dropped to about 5,500 Photographer: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images
A BOND DESIGNED TO raise funds to grow the population of endangered black rhinoceros in South Africa will be sold by the World Bank this year. The five-year, 670 million rand ($45 million) security will be the world’s first wildlife conservation bond and the aim is to sell it in the middle of the year. Returns for investors will be determined by the rate of growth of the populations of the animals in two South African reserves, according to the Rhino Impact Investment Project, an initiative started by the Zoological Society of London. If successful, the program could be expanded to protect black rhino populations in Kenya as well as other wildlife species such as lions, tigers, gorillas and orangutans, Rhino Impact said in a document detailing the proposal. It provides an opportunity for people interested in conservation to get a return on their support and possibly re76
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invest money in new projects rather than the more traditional route where projects are funded by philanthropists or governments. “The innovative wildlife conservation bond financing mechanism plans to use a World Bank, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development IBRD AAA-rated bond,” it said. Credit Suisse Group AG is advising on the project. The World Bank will also sell a $100 million conservation bond at the same time, without specifying what it will be used for. Under the terms of the rhino bond, investors will forgo an annual coupon and will instead receive their original capital and an additional payout depending on how much the rhino population has grown over five years. The principal of the bond and the possible payout at maturity will be paid by the Global Environment DAWN
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Facility, which has received donations from more than 40 countries and was formed ahead of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The plan to sell the securities was delayed from last year because of the impact of the coronavirus. Of the 29,000 rhinos made up of five species globally, about 80% are in South Africa and almost all them are white rhino. Black rhino numbers have dropped to about 5,500 from 65,000 in 1970 and potentially as many as 850,000 once, according to the World Bank. The animals are found in four African countries, including South Africa, and can weigh as much as 1.4 tons -- much smaller than the white rhino. There are 2,046 black rhinos in South Africa currently, the World Bank said.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time, we have to look after the rhino, its critically endangered,” Nick de Goede, park manager at Addo, said in an
interview. “The whole idea is to look at the rhino as a pilot and then it can be rolled out for any species.”
Critically Endangered The aim is increase the population by 4% per annum, he said, declining to say how many rhinos Growing Populations are in Addo because that information could be Rhinos are under threat from poaching, used by poachers. mostly because of demand in Vietnam and Three sites in Kenya -- Lewa Borana China for the powder from their horns that’s Conservancy, Ol Pejeta Conservancy and the believed to cure cancer and improve virility. Tsavo West National Park -- may be chosen next “When working on innovative structures like this for a bond sale, Rhino Impact said. one, we start small and hope to learn from the first While the rhino security is a first, so-called one and then get successfully larger in an ambition sustainable bonds have been used to finance a to ultimately scale what works,” Marisa Drew, chief variety of outcomes from marine and fisheries sustainability officer at Credit Suisse, said. projects in the Seychelles to girls education in The two sites selected in South Africa are rural India. the Addo Elephant National Park and the Great www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-24/ Fish River Nature Reserve. Addo is a 1,640 world-s-first-wildlife-bond-to-track-rhinosquare kilometer (633 square-mile) reserve in the populations-in-africa Eastern Cape province while Great Fish is a 450 Image credit: datacenterdynamics.com, square-kilometer park in the same province. Both ResearchGate, flipboard.com are state run. 77
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Investment
Egyptian VC Firm Sawari Ventures Finally Closes $71M Fund for North African Startups By Tage Kene-Okafor Sawari Ventures
EGYPTIAN-BASED VC FIRM Sawari Ventures has closed its $71 million fund for North Africa’s rapidly growing startup ecosystem. The firm first announced its fund in 2018, when it closed an initial $35 million (which subsequently increased to $41 million) in hopes to close at $70 million, per Menabytes. The investors in the first tranche included CDC (which forked over $12 million), European Investment Bank, Proparco and the Dutch Good Growth Fund. Having closed an additional $30 million, Sawari Ventures’ total raise is $1 million more than its original target. And it has added a range of new backers that includes Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, Ekuity, Misr Insurance Group, National Bank of Egypt and Suez Canal Bank. Ahmed El Alfi, Hany Al-Sonbaty and Wael Amin launched Sawari Ventures in 2010. Before venturing into the world of venture capital, El Alfi and Al-Sonbaty were investment professionals in the Egyptian tech space for more than two decades. Amin, meanwhile, was a founder of a tech company called ITWorx that made notable acquisitions in the Egyptian tech ecosystem. In addition to Egypt, Sawari Ventures focuses on Morocco and Tunisia. For the firm, these three countries represent one of the best investment 78
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opportunities around, given the mismatch between the capital available (amounts and variation at every stage) and the market opportunity. They also share common traits such as language, culture, business, governance norms and market dynamics, making it easier for cross-border cooperation. Since launching the firm more than 10 years ago, Sawari claims to have invested in more than 30 companies, mostly in Egypt. Some of these companies include ride-hailing service SWVL, software startup Instabug and AI chat-based personal assistant Elves, but its sweet spots are the hardware, education, healthcare, cleantech and fintech sectors. “We try to cast a wide net given that, in essence, this is a transformative moment in emerging markets tech with the rapid digitization of the underlying economy,” a company spokesperson told TechCrunch. “So as expected, we’re seeing a great deal of flow in the digitization of financial services, healthcare and education technologies. Also, given the engineering talent, there are unique opportunities in SaaS products, semiconductors and IoT.” Sawari Ventures invests in growth-stage companies, in particular. But it also operates DAWN
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Investment
Ethiopia Finally Opens up Telecoms Market Flat6Labs (https://flat6labs.com), a seed VC firm akin to an accelerator that has been used to perform its seed investments since establishing both Cairo and Tunis offices in 2011 and 2016. Sawari says 10% of the now-closed investments will be earmarked for seed-stage companies as investments through Flat6Labs Cairo and Tunis. Flat6Labs Cairo will seed between 80 to 100 companies and offer follow-on investments to between 30 and 40. Flat6Labs Tunisia will seed 60 to 70 companies and offer follow-on investments for 30 to 40. The remaining 90% will be used to invest in 20 to 25 growth-stage companies across Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, with a median investment range of $2 million to $3 million. The investment range is a continuation of how Sawari typically cut checks for portfolio startups since closing the first tranche three years ago. The firm said it has invested between $1 million and $4 million in Elves, Brantu, ExpandCart, Almentor, SWVL and MoneyFellows, among others. “The Egypt-based fund is a privately held fund regulated by the Financial Regulatory Authority of Egypt (FRA), which allowed us to attract capital from top-tier local financial institutions to co-invest with foreign capital from international development financial institutions, doubling our allocation to invest in Egyptian high-growth companies to $68 million,” El Alfi said in a statement. “Our aim is to create exceptional returns through investing in knowledge-driven companies, which have the potential of bringing transformational changes to the Egyptian economy. The fund will support local companies with dedicated capital, in addition to quality expertise from our seasoned and specialized team, and the value-add of our investors.” https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/05/sawariventures-finally-closes-71m-fund-for-northafrican-startups
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By REUTERS
IT'S ONE OF THE world's last closed markets for f mobile communications. But now Ethiopia is finally set to allow competition in the telecoms sector. The country's finance ministry said Monday (April 26) that it had received two bids for operating licenses. One is from South Africa's MTN. The other from a consortium including Kenya's Safaricom and UK giant Vodafone. A senior adviser at the ministry told Reuters it shouldn't take more than a week for a decision on awarding the licenses. It's all part of moves to free up the country's economy. The liberalisation will also see the sale of a 45% stake in Ethio Telecom. France's Orange is thought to be among companies interested in taking a part of that. Back in 2019, when liberalisation plans were set out, local traders seemed pleased. Competition should improve service, said this broker in Addis Ababa. The winning bidders will get full operating licenses. But officials said last year they would be expected to build their own infrastructure, and would not be allowed to operate mobile-phone based financial services. https://in.news.yahoo.com/ethiopia-finallyopens-telecoms-market-131347018.html Image credit: ethio.news
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'We are the Best-Funded AI Startup,’ says SambaNova Co-Founder Olukotun Following SoftBank, Intel Infusion
SambaNova's DataS solving the training t
By Tiernan Ray
IN YET ANOTHER SIGN of the rising interest in alternative computing technology, AI systems startup SambaNova Systems said it has received $676 million in a Series D financing from a group of investors that includes the SoftBank Vision Fund of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group; private equity firm BlackRock; and the Intel Capital arm of chip giant Intel. The new funding round brings the company's total investment to date to over $1 billion. The company is now valued at more than $5 billion. "With this $676 million, we are the best-funded AI startup," said Kunle Olukotun, a professor of computer science at Stanford University, and a co-founder of SambaNova, in an interview with ZDNet via Zoom. SambaNova competes with other heavily funded startups, including Cerebras Systems and Graphcore. 80
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"We're using this round to build our software, hardware, and systems collateral, to challenge the incumbent," said Olukotun. The incumbent, in this case, is Nvidia, whom SambaNova claims to be able to best on benchmark deep learning tasks, with a much-smaller footprint in an equipment rack, and much less power. SambaNova has pioneered a novel approach to moving neural network programs through circuits to train those programs, and a novel chip design, which it calls a data-flow architecture. The company has built computer systems to run the chips and software, called DataScale. The DataScale system is comparable to sixty-four of Nvidia's DGX-2 rack-mounted systems running the A100 GPU, but in only one quarter of a standard telco rack, says SambaNova. And the company claims it can get a 2000-times DAWN
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Scale computers are built with novel chips and software and memory routing technology, with a focus on asks of large deep learning forms of neural network AI.
performance-per-watt improvement in energy use on the same benchmark deep learning tasks as the DGX systems. "I think most people would say we are the most credible competitor to Nvidia," observed Olukotun. In December, SambaNova it began offering a subscription service, called Dataflow as a Service, where companies effectively lease the equipment to run on-premise, with support added in to ease the task of building deep learning programs such as very large natural language processing models like Google's BERT. It is the service offering in particular that is going to be boosted by the capital infusion, the company said. Also: 'It's not just AI, this is a change in the entire computing industry,' says SambaNova CEO "There's been a lot of customer pull and demand in that space," said Marshall Choy, Vice President of product at SambaNova, referring to the services offering, in the same video interview. "And so we're 81
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continuing to amplify the R&D investment there on the tooling and the tool chain and the usability to provide people the very seamless API interface, and take away the struggle of dealing with the infrastructure. Choy declined to offer stats on the customer uptake of Dataflow as a service. SambaNova is now over 350 people, and is actively hiring, said Olukotun. The company intends to get to over 500 people by the end of this year, he said. That will be across functions, he said, including R&D engineers, field service engineers, go-to-market staff, and others. www.zdnet.com/article/we-are-the-bestfunded-ai-startup-says-sambanova-co-founderolukotun-following-softbank-intel-infusion/?utm_ medium=40digest.7days3.20210413. carousel&utm_source=email&utm_ content=&utm_campaign=campaign Image credit: news.engin.umich.edu
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Founder of $16 Billion Ariel Investments Created a School to Teach Kids Financial Literacy Through Stocks By Charlene Rhinehart
IN 1996, JOHN W. ROGERS, JR. launched a school to expose inner-city kids to valuable financial literacy concepts. The curriculum has been a huge success, creating opportunities for students to become economically empowered, pursue their career goals, and contribute to their communities. Rogers has used his success in the financial services industry to give kids a world-class educational opportunity that emphasizes an expanded view of financial literacy — a topic that is typically removed from classrooms across the country. “To me, financial literacy is not just about saving, credit cards, retirement, and home mortgages,” Rogers said during an interview with Black Enterprise. “All those things are important. But
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equally important is understanding how to invest in the equities market and compound money. Long-term stock market returns have substantially outperformed the returns on savings accounts.”
The Power of Teaching Kids Financial Literacy Rogers is known for saying that “people undervalue time and they overvalue money.” By using the power of time, Rogers went on to build the first Black-owned mutual fund firm in the nation. He founded Ariel Investments in 1983 and serves as the Chairman, Co-CEO, and Chief Investment Officer. Now, the Chicago-based firm has assets under management totaling over $16 billion. What’s Rogers’ secret to success? Starting early. At age 12, Rogers’ father gave him stocks DAWN
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instead of toys for the holidays. This spurred his interest in the stock market — especially when he started collecting dividend checks from his investments. Then, John’s father introduced him to his stockbroker, Stacy Adams, who was one of the first African-American stockbrokers on LaSalle Street in Chicago. This early stock market education inspired Rogers to open the Ariel Community Academy on the south side of Chicago. The school offers pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students opportunities to practice financial literacy by managing stock portfolios and creating business plans. Kindergarten classes start with $20,000 and watch their portfolio grow throughout their school years. When students graduate from 8th grade, they receive a portion of the profits. The original $20,000 goes back to fund the following year’s kindergarten class portfolio. “I’m replicating what my dad did for me. We are giving kids the opportunity to invest in real stocks with real money,” says Rogers. “Secondly, we’re exposing kids to money managers and stock pickers who look like them. That inspires the kids and shows them that they can do it too.” He adds, “We used to take the students to McDonald’s annual meeting. At the end of every meeting, we would spend an hour with Don Thompson (first Black CEO at McDonald’s). These young people sit in a room and learn how he’s become the leader of one of the most iconic companies in the world. They start to think about careers in ways they wouldn’t have before.”
Building Generational Wealth through Financial Literacy According to the Black Investor Survey, Black Americans under the age of 40 have increased their engagement in the stock market. This provides a sense of hope for wealth-building in the African-American community. It also creates an opportunity to educate younger investors about the power of patience and long-term investing. Rogers cautions investors to avoid using the Game Stop 83
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debacle as a way to define and measure their goals in the stock market. “I do worry about the gamification of investing,” says Rogers. “If people think they can get rich quickly, they will have more of a gaming approach to investing. When I started my journey, my father bought blue-chip, conservative investments for me.” A key component to building generational wealth is patience. “In my 20s, I quickly understood that trying to get rich quick by trading options and commodities was a loser’s game.” Building long-term success requires education. Therefore, Rogers became a student of the stock market. He studied financial statements, annual reports, and books that provided the blueprint for success. He even signed up for classes that would give him an advantage as an investor. “I took an accounting course when I graduated from Princeton,” says Rogers. “If you’re going to manage your own investments, understanding accounting is really important. You can get into a lot of trouble if you buy a company that has a great story but a weak balance sheet. When a recession comes along, that kind of company may go bankrupt because they’re overloaded…they have too much debt.” He adds, “Read as much as you can about investors who have been successful. Listen to Warren Buffett. Invest in your circle of competence. Invest in the industry that you know well and are comfortable investing in.”. www.blackenterprise.com/founder-of-16-billion-arielinvestments-created-a-school-to-teach-kids-financialliteracy-through-stocks/ Image credit: Powell Photography
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Ghana to Sell Sustainable Bonds for Up to $1 Billion by July By Moses Mozart Dzawu
GHANA IS PLANNING TO RAISE as much as $1 billion through a sale of sustainable bonds, including Africa’s first social debt to fund a flagship policy to broaden access to education. The proceeds would help refinance domestic debt used for social and environmental projects, including loans taken to pay for the government’s free senior secondary school policy, Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance Charles Adu Boahen told Bloomberg Monday. The use of social bonds has boomed since the coronavirus pandemic, yet so far only a few sovereign issuers have sold them, including Chile and Ecuador. The European Union has emerged as the largest player, to fund a jobs recovery program, smashing global debt demand records in the process as investors flock to ethical assets. “With this issue we’re looking at refinancing those debt already raised to undertake projects in the environmental and social sectors,” Adu Boahen said. “Out of all that we will raise with our capital market mandate this year, only $1.5 billion is fresh debt, the rest is for refinance or buyback.” The sale, likely to be a mix of social and 84
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green bonds, would come months after Ghana sold four-year zero-coupon debt to international investors as part of a $3.025 billion Eurobond deal that also included 20-year, 12-year and sevenyear securities. The country mandated Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Standard Chartered Plc, Standard Bank Group Ltd. and Rand Merchant Bank Ltd. as lead arrangers for the deal. The government will tap some of the same advisers for the sustainable bonds issuance, Adu Boahen said, without giving more details. That will help plug a budget gap in Africa’s top gold producer, which is expected to be 9.5% of gross domestic product this year, down from a 11.7% shortfall in 2020. President Nana AkufoAddo’s administration has had to increase seats in public senior secondary schools since it started implementing free education at that level in 2017. www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-25/ ghana-to-sell-sustainable-bonds-for-up-to-1-billion-byjuly-kp3rq0p1?sref=P6xXtEaF Image credit: investallign.com DAWN
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Technology/Science
Zoom Boosts its App Ecosystem with $100M Venture Fund By Paul Sawers
ZOOM HAS ANNOUNCED a new $100 million venture fund designed to “stimulate growth” of its burgeoning ecosystem of third-party app integrations. The announcement comes after a whirlwind 12 months for the video-communications platform company. Zoom has more than doubled in value over the past year, with businesses forced to embrace cloud-based tools as they rapidly transitioned to remote work. The Salesforce playbook Back in October, Zoom launched its new Zoom Apps platform for third-party developers to integrate their apps into Zoom. This is designed to make it easier for teams to collaborate and access data while on video calls — integrations include everything from whiteboarding to cloud storage services. And this is essentially what the new $100 million fund will support. Zoom said it will invest between $250,000 and $2.5 million in growth-stage companies looking to develop tools and products that “will become core to how Zoom customers meet, communicate, and collaborate,” 85
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according to a statement. In many ways, Zoom is following the Salesforce playbook in terms of how it’s pushing to develop a vibrant ecosystem built around its core product — first through embracing third-party integrations and then through investing in them directly. Zoom has invested in startups before — in 2019 it backed hardware startup Neat — but this latest fund goes some way toward establishing Zoom as a more formal investor. To qualify for funding, companies must have a market-ready product with evidence of at least some early traction. Perhaps more importantly, their product must be focused on helping improve the Zoom experience in some way, either through Zoom Apps, SDKs, APIs, or even hardware products. https://venturebeat.com/2021/04/19/ zoom-boosts-its-apps-ecosystem-with100m-fund/?utm_medium=techboard.mon. media.20210419&utm_source=email&utm_ content=&utm_campaign=campaign
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Technology/Science
Summers Could Last Half the Year by the End of this Century By Denise Chow
Africa is not specifically referenced in this article but the content is relevant and results can be extrapolated from the presentation and the actual report may be reviewed using the address shown below. Dawn Editors SUMMERS IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE could last nearly six months by the year 2100 if global warming continues unchecked, according to a recent study that examined how climate change is affecting the pattern and duration of Earth's seasons. The study, published last month in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that climate change is making summers hotter and longer, while shrinking the three other seasons. Scientists say the irregularities could have a range of serious implications, affecting human health and agriculture to the environment. "This is the biological clock for every living thing," said the study's lead author, Yuping Guan, a physical oceanographer at the State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "People argue about temperature rise of 2 degrees or 3 degrees, but global warming changing the seasons is something everyone can understand." Guan and his colleagues combed through daily climate data from 1952 to 2011 to pinpoint the start and end of each season in the Northern Hemisphere. They found that over the nearly 60year period, summers grew from an average of 78 to 95 days long. Winters, on average, shortened from 76 to 73 days, and the spring and autumn seasons similarly contracted. On average, the spring seasons shrank from 124 days to 115 days, and autumns shortened from 87 days to 82 days. The scientists used the findings to build a 86
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model to project how the seasons might change in the future. They discovered that if the pace of climate change continues unmitigated, summers in the Northern Hemisphere could last nearly six months, while winters could span less than two months. In their study, Guan and his colleagues measured the start of summer based on the onset of temperatures in the hottest 25 percent during that time period. Winter was defined as the onset of temperatures in the coldest 25 percent, they said. Previous research has shown that climate change is having a profound impact on the planet's seasons — making summers hotter and longer and winters shorter and warmer — but Guan said he was surprised by the dramatic results of his team's future projections. "We first looked at 2050 and then calculated the change for 2100, and it was a big number," Guan said. "For human well-being, I was really hoping these results were wrong." Changes to Earth's seasons carry risks for the environment and human health. Warmer and longer summers, for instance, mean mosquitos and other disease-carrying pests could expand their range and persist in areas where they are not typically found. "You could get to a point where insects like malarial mosquitos that are normally kept out of high-elevation areas because they can't survive overnight could potentially survive longer and at higher altitudes," said Scott Sheridan, a climate scientist at Kent State University in Ohio, who was DAWN www.africabusinessassociation.org
not involved with the study. And because seasons dictate the life cycles of plants and animals, climate change could disrupt species' ability to adapt. "If seasons start changing, everything isn't going to change perfectly in sync," Sheridan said. "If we take an example of flowers coming out of the ground, those flowers could come out but bees aren't there to pollinate yet or they're already past their peak." Climate change is also making seasons more "fickle," Sheridan said, which could have farreaching impacts on agricultural production. In the U.S., for instance, a "false spring" in March 2012 characterized by unseasonably warm weather lured vegetation out of dormancy weeks ahead of 87
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schedule, before temperatures dropped again in April. "Everything kicked into high gear thinking that early summer had arisen," Sheridan said. "In the state of Michigan, huge amounts of cherry crop were lost as a result. Similar things happened in the South with peach crops." Indeed, scientists are eager to understand precisely how climate change will affect the seasons because of the potential impact on food production. Weston Anderson, a postdoctoral researcher at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University, studies the effect of climate variability on agriculture and food security. Global warming affects not only where certain crops can grow and when, but also how much they thrive. "One of the main concerns is how warming temperatures will affect the timing of development of crops," said Anderson, who was not involved with the recent study. "That means how quickly crops mature, and as a result of that, how much crop yields are affected." Although food production issues have global spillover effects, the Mediterranean region is one area that appears to be particularly susceptible to global warming, Anderson said. "We're already seeing in the Mediterranean that temperatures are increasing and the region is becoming more arid, so less suitable for wheat planting," he said, adding that places that are already semi-arid are also vulnerable. Sheridan said the study's findings help illustrate the severity of climate change by illustrating how much humans, other animals, plants and the environment are interconnected. "Shifting seasons can wreak a lot more havoc than you think when you realize all the systems that are tuned to the timing of the seasons," he said. www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/summerslast-half-year-end-century-rcna436 Image credits: chinaafricaproject.com, Genetic Literacy Project DAWN
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BEWARE!! - How Online Scammers Fooled one of Africa’s Biggest Fintech Startups By Quartz Africa Weekly Brief
JAMES UCHE REMEMBERS HOW he frantically fought against a deadline to submit an English proficiency certificate to secure a scholarship for an undergraduate biotech degree at McMaster University in Canada. His full ride to McMaster was being sponsored by the St. Michael Foundation. When it offered him its international scholarship in midJanuary, the foundation gave him two options to meet the English requirement. He could take the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS, a common standardized test for non-native English speakers, or an alternative recommended by St. Michael. Called the Online International English Proficiency Examination (OIEPE), it was touted in its website as the world’s premier English language test for international 88
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study, work, and immigration, accepted by more than 11,000 universities in over 150 countries. All Uche needed was to follow a link provided by the foundation to create a profile and pay the sum of 10,500 naira (about $25) via digital payments startup Paystack (https://paystack.com) to generate the test access pin. The first two times he tried, the pin expired shortly after he got it. Anxious of losing his scholarship, he used another email to create a new profile and his mother’s debit card to pay again, altogether spending $75. Each time, he got a receipt from Paystack. Uche succeeded on his third attempt. The test took him less than an hour and he scored 57%, far above the 40% required for his scholarship. He received his English proficiency certificate by email a few hours later, signed by both OIEPE’s DAWN
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president director and general manager. He went to a café, where he uploaded his resume and the certificate to a dedicated site, beating the deadline by two days. Then he waited for his admission letter from McMaster, which the foundation promised would come in the next 30 working days. But the English test was the culmination of an elaborate scam to collect money from young Africans seeking to study abroad. “I don’t know that someone born of a woman, created by God, can actually formulate such a thing to scam people,” says the 21-year-old Uche from his family home in Abia State in southeastern Nigeria. “I’m heartbroken,” he says. “My money is gone.” A Youtuber with an enthusiasm for science, Uche graduated from Covenant High School in Abia, where he was a senior prefect, a top student leader normally appointed by the school teachers. He says he had been seeking university admission, but Nigerian public universities were on strike during most of last year, coupled with the coronavirus pandemic lockdown that
kept even private school students at home. On the surface, the scam looks like the old tricks that have been used for years to defraud hapless prospective students with fake scholarships. But it reveals a troubling new trend: The same impunity and loopholes that fraudsters normally use are now superpowered by fintech, making the potential windfall for the scammers and losses for the scammed even bigger. The number of people who fell for the scam isn’t known yet. Paystack has refused to disclose the identity of the scammers and wouldn’t say the amount of money it raised for them. “When we became aware of this merchant’s questionable activity, we deactivated their account immediately and are working with their bank to investigate this incident,” Paystack said in an email.
The broken fintech chain According to Paystack, for merchants to get activated on its platform, they need to submit a number of “know your customer” documents that are reviewed before the business is cleared to accept payments. “Businesses in regulated industries are required to produce documents unique to their sector, such as certificates and licenses,” the company says. In Nigeria, for example, Paystack requires prospective customers to submit the bank verification number (BVN) of any director or trustee, the certificate of registration from the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Nigerian agency responsible for the registration of for-profit and nonprofit organizations, and a corporate bank account. Similar requirements also apply to Ghana and South Africa where the company has extended its service. It’s not entirely clear
Possible "yahoo boys" (The Guardian Nigeria)
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whether Paystack failed to properly vet the scammers, or whether current rules are not stringent enough to detect dubious customers. For the scammers to have succeeded, at least one other corporate organization along the payments chain didn’t do its due diligence, says Babatunde Obrimah, chief operating officer, Fintech Association of Nigeria, a nonprofit organization that advocates for fintech in the country. The scammers only used Paystack as payment gateway on their website; the money they made had to be channeled into a bank or other financial institution. “Somebody at the end of
in Nigeria was 804 trillion naira (about $2 trillion) with online transfers accounting for nearly one-third, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria. Paystack, founded by Ezra Olubi and Shola Akinlade in Lagos in 2015, was acquired by Stripe for about $200 million in October last year and now has more than 60,000 customers. Stripe didn’t respond to requests for comment. Another Nigerian payment startup, Flutterwave, raised $170 million in a Series C funding round in March, projecting the company to about $1 billion valuation. But as the payment platforms grow in the country, yahoo boys, a Nigerian moniker for internet fraudsters, are finding ways to cash in. Young Nigerians are a particularly easy target for scholarship scams. Faced with rising unemployment, many are seeking to immigrate to high-income countries in hopes of a better life. Common tips to avoid
falling prey to this type of scam include: • never paying a fee to apply, • never disclosing sensitive personal information, and • never responding to an unsolicited offer.
the transaction is liable,” he adds. Payment companies like Paystack are regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which mandates that payment service providers ensure that all transactions on their platforms are validated by credible financial institutions. The central bank has launched an investigation into the scam and will provide further information after it is concluded, spokesman Osita Nwanisobi said in a text message.
“When an opportunity feels too good to be true, it often is,” says Grace Ihejiamaizu who runs Opportunity Desk, a website that curates global educational and career opportunities. “Trust your instincts and take a step back to analyze the opportunity. Possibly invite a second eye that will be more rational, knowledgeable, and less excited about the opportunity, to give you valuable feedback.”
Fertile field for fintechs and scammers
A new kind of scholarship scam
Nigeria, with about 200 million people and The scam Uche and others fell for didn’t rely on Africa’s largest economy, is a viable market for the usual tricks. Instead, the scammers designed fintech startups. Between January and August an audacious scheme that involved many layers last year, the value of e-payment transactions that unfolded gradually over months. 90
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The scholarship application website had pictures of smiling students in commencement gowns, clutching books, and engaging in other activities on campus. The scholarship was meant for Africans for undergraduate and master’s degrees at one of nine universities in Australia, Canada, and England. The application only required two motivation essays without a specified word limit. The fraudulent foundation opened up its application process in December, with a Jan. 11 deadline. Shortly after, applicants began to receive congratulatory messages for getting the scholarship. They were instructed to upload their resume and English proficiency certificate to a web link in order to secure their admission at the partner universities. “I feel very weak now,” says 27-year-old Francis Ogiri, who was still expecting his admission letter when he learned from Quartz Africa that he had been scammed. He applied for civil engineering at the University of Tasmania in Australia and paid twice for the English test because the first access pin expired. He also paid another 2,500 naira for a sample English test to prepare. Ogiri has a diploma from the Nigerian Army Institute of Technology in Makurdi, Benue State, and has been living with his older sister and younger brother in Abuja, where he works as an office assistant. The link to the scholarship appears to have been mainly circulated on WhatsApp and Facebook groups, where young Africans congregate to share scholarship opportunities; only one obscure Nigerian website, Explorer Arena, posted about the scholarship. Ogiri says he first learned about the scholarship through a link a friend sent him via WhatsApp, and became convinced that it was real after he searched it on Google. Another applicant, 28-year-old Aminu Adamu, who lives in Kano, says he too received the link through WhatsApp, and also fell for it after googling it. Adamu chose business administration at Monash University in Australia. It’s easy to see why the applicants might have initially been fooled. When they searched the foundation, the top results were likely St. Michael’s
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College and St. Michael Foundation, both genuine organizations that have no connection to the fake St. Michael Foundation. And, on cursory look, the scammers’ website appeared genuine. It plagiarized the text from another real organization, Mastercard Foundation, to explain what the scholarship was all about. The scammers also lifted the profile pictures of four board members from the Mastercard Foundation’s website, and passed them along as their own. On Jan. 19, the Mastercard Foundation issued a disclaimer saying the fraudulent website used the foundation’s content and images to promote the fake scholarship. The website had been taken down the previous day, but by this time, the scammers had already sent congratulatory messages to the applicants and moved on with recommending the fake English test. Still, all along there were clues of the scam. The domain for the test website was only registered in December, but falsely claimed that its copyright was from 2010. It had pictures and testimonies of students who had failed TOEFL and IELTS tests several times until they took the OIEPE, but the exam itself consisted of 30 poorly written questions to be completed in 45 minutes. There were other red flags. Neither of the websites had social media accounts. And the US address of the foundation didn’t exist. But conducting basic online verification might not be within reach for the applicants who were motivated by the prospect of studying abroad. For Chukwuebuka Amazu, who chose master’s in philosophy at the University of Ottawa in Canada, the scammers played a fast game on them, not only collecting their money but making them study for a fake English test. It’s a sobering reminder that the rapid spread of fintech in Africa doesn’t come without risk. https://techio.co/how-online-scammers-fooledone-of-africas-biggest-fintech-startups Image credit: buzzsouthafrica.com, opportunitydesk.org
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How an Extraordinary Women-Only Village is Inspiring Land Equality in Rural Kenya By Dominic Kirui WHEN JANE NOLMONGEN'S HUSBAND banished her from their family home in northern Kenya after discovering she had been raped by a British soldier, she went somewhere she knew she would be safe: a village entirely run by women, where men are not allowed. For the past 30 years, Nolmongen has lived in Umoja village in Samburu County, supporting her eight children and working land she could soon own, in defiance of a culture in which women are considered the property of their fathers and husbands. "The village has been a source of support for me, because we have worked together to make progress in our lives and teach each other the importance of women's rights," said Nolmongen, 52, as she lit a fire to make some tea. "Among the Samburu, we, as women, are just like rubbish to our husbands," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Nolmongen was among the first residents of Umoja, which was founded in 1990 as a refuge for Samburu women who have suffered sexual assault and been cast out and stripped of any claims to their property or children, as well as those fleeing child marriage or female genital mutilation (FGM). Today, the women are on the brink of being granted the title deed to a tract of grazing land by the county government — a right they never would have had outside the village — and are motivating nearby communities to also start giving land rights to women. "In (Samburu) community, that was not possible for a woman 30 years ago. She would not be allowed to own land and other property because the husband would not allow her," Nolmongen said. Umoja was created by Rebecca Lolosoli, who was thrown out of her community and beaten by a group of men for speaking out against the practice 92
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Jane Nolmongen washes a cup in her hut in Umoja village, Kenya, March 1, 2021. Thomson Reuters Foundation/ Dominic Kirui Image: Dominic Kirui/Thomson Reuters Foundation
belafrikamedia.com of FGM. While recovering in hospital, she came up with the idea to start a village where men were banned. Umoja, which means "unity" in Swahili, started with 15 women — at its peak, the population grew to about 50 families, explained Nolmongen. Now there are a total of 37 women and their children living in the village, which is made up of homes the women have constructed for each other and a school, all surrounded by a fence of thorny branches. The women make money selling honey and DAWN
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handmade beads to tourists, although travel restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic mean they currently have no income, Nolmongen noted. "After this disease came, (tourists) no longer come, and we have to think of other ways to survive," she said. "If someone has savings, that is what they use now until we can sell the beads again." Henry Lenayasa, chief of the administrative region where Umoja village is located, said the women's move to register their land is an example of a growing recognition of equal property rights among the Samburu. "We, as administrators, are guided by the constitution to ensure women get their fair share. I normally hold barazas (meetings) in various villages to ensure this message reaches them, and also emphasize the need to empower girls," he said. Community Ownership Kenya's constitution states that all women have equal rights to own property, but in reality land is most often customarily passed from fathers to their sons, making it hard for women to own land. Women own less than 2% of all titled land in Kenya, according to the Kenya Land Alliance, an advocacy network. The Samburu practice communal tenure, with all decisions on how land is used and allocated made by men. But soon the women of Umoja could have legal control over their own tract of grazing land, a few kilometres from the village, which they bought a few years ago with savings and donations. The government is currently considering their application for a community title for the land, which is due to be partitioned. If granted, the land title would help protect the women and their livelihoods from clashes over land and water that frequently break out between the Samburu and rival communities. A spokesman for the Samburu County Lands Office could not be reached for comment. Spreading the Word The women of Umoja also travel to nearby communities to teach people about the importance
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of including women in land and property ownership. And whenever a woman leaves the village to return to her husband, the others make sure she does not revert to second-class status, Nolmongen said. "We step in and teach her about (her rights) and even follow up to ensure that she actually gets to enjoy these rights, including seeing whether she is dressed well and has ownership of some property," she said. In the neighbouring village of Nashami, Samuel Leyapem, 75, said over the past three decades the women of Umoja have inspired his community to grant women more of the rights they are entitled to. "Nowadays, even us here in our village allow women to own property such as cattle and even buy land," he said, as he sat in the shade outside his home. "But personally, I would like it more if, after the woman buys (land), she involves her husband, so that they are both happy." Juliana Nnoko-Mewanu, a researcher on women and land for advocacy group Human Rights Watch, said women should not feel they have to cut men out of their lives to be able to make decisions on their property. "Women must not resort to women-only spaces to experience the ability to access, use, control, and benefit from land and perceive tenure security," she said over the phone. "The government should institute safeguards to protect women's rights to property during marriage, divorce, and in the case of the death of a spouse," she added. At Umoja village, Nolmongen is grateful that even though she never went back to her husband, she has been able to send all of her children to school and have agency over the land she lives and works on. It is a right she has instilled in her grown children: one son who is in the police force and a daughter working as a journalist. "They are now enlightened and can own property any way they want," she said. www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/all-women-umoja-villagekenya-gender-land-rights Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news. trust.org DAWN
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Lifestyle/Culture
Simone Biles Maintains Gold Standard By Nancy Armour
NO MATTER HOW MANY superlatives are used to describe Simone Biles and her greatness, it's not enough. Not even close. Competing in her first meet since the 2019 world championships – that's 587 days, for those counting – Biles became the first woman ever to complete a Yurchenko double pike vault. When it's officially recognized by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), likely before the Tokyo Olympics, it will be the fifth skill named for Biles. She has another vault named for her, as well as two skills on floor exercise and one on balance beam. Oh, Biles won the U.S. Classic, too. Her score of 58.4 was more than a point higher than teammate Jordan Chiles, even with a fall on uneven bars, her final event. "She deserves every last bit of the whole thing," Chiles said. Biles is already one of the world's most famous and compelling athletes, a four-time Olympic gold medalist who has no peers in her sport -- now or ever. With Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt watching from their couches, she will be the face of the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Yet it somehow feels as if Biles doesn't get the credit she deserves. And I'm not just talking about the fuddy duddies at the FIG who are poised to undervalue yet another of her groundbreaking skills. What Biles is doing is incredibly difficult. Like, physicists-could-make-case-studies-of-what-shedoes difficult. But because she makes things look effortless, because she plays with skills for months, even years before letting the public get a glimpse of them, it is easy to underestimate just how transcendent she is. 94
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Simone Biles performs her balance beam routine during the U.S. Classic gymnastics competition in Indianapolis, May 22, 2021 Take the Yurchenko double pike. She does a roundoff onto the takeoff board, a back handspring onto the vault table and then a double somersault in a piked position. Unlike other Yurchenko vaults, where the somersault is done in a laid out position, there is no bailout on the double pike. Don't get enough height, or place a hand wrong on the vault table, and she could very well land on her neck. Yet Biles was practically flawless. Her block -which takes the energy from her run and powers her into the air -- is so solid that she soars at least 6 feet high above the table, a stunning physical feat. In fact, Biles got so much power on the vault that she had to take a couple of steps back to control her landing. But her vault was given a start value of 6.6. While that's the highest difficulty score for a women's vault, it's still undervalued. Just as her doubletwisting, double somersault on balance beam was undervalued. "They’re both too low," Biles said afterward, her exasperation clear. National team coordinator Tom Forster agreed. DAWN
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"I definitely think it’s undervalued," he said. "It doesn’t seem to be consistent with what they’ve done with other vault values, and I don’t know why they do that." By comparison, the same vault on the men's side was a 0.4 increase from the next-most difficult vault. This is just 0.2 higher. "There’s no point in putting up a fight because they're not going to reward the correct value," Biles said. "So we’re going to take it and just be quiet." But that's not fair. The greatest athletes -- think Phelps, Bolt, Serena, Brady -- all make what they do look easy, even though it isn't. Their accomplishments, impressive in the moment, become even more remarkable with time. But the appreciation we have for those athletes' accomplishments feels more accurate, more reflective of their magnitude. Maybe because, in
Brady's case, he plays a sport that is engrained in American society. Maybe because, with Phelps and Bolt, they are judged by an objective measure, time. Maybe because, with Serena, she plays on while so many others have come and gone. It's harder for us mere mortals to wrap our heads around exactly what Biles is doing, and the sheer difficulty of it. That is our problem, not hers. Yet she's the one who is short-changed. Appreciate her now. While you still have the chance. Because someday, we'll all understand just how otherworldly she is, and wish we had one more chance to witness it. Special Note - View the Biles Vault on Twitter
www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancyarmour/2021/05/22/simone-biles-us-classicyurchnko-vault-history/5228200001
Overseas Spectators will be Banned from Tokyo Olympics due to COVID-19 Risks By H.J. MAI
THIS YEAR'S TOKYO OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES will take place without any overseas spectators after organizers decided to ban international fans from attending the events over COVID-19 concerns. The decision was made during a virtual meeting between the various stakeholders. "Based on the present situation of the pandemic, it is highly unlikely that entry into Japan will be guaranteed this summer for people from overseas," the Olympic organizing committee said in a statement. "In order to give clarity to ticket holders living overseas and to enable them to adjust their travel plans at this stage, the parties on the Japanese side have come to the conclusion that they will not be able to enter into Japan at the time of the Olympic and Paralympic Games." The International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee said they fully respect and accept the move. 95
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"We have to take decisions that may need sacrifice from everybody," IOC President Thomas Bach said. Overseas fans who purchased tickets for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games will receive a refund. More information on the refund mechanism will be available in the future, according a statement. The Olympic Opening Ceremony is scheduled for July 23, with the Paralympics set to start on Aug. 24. www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-liveupdates/2021/03/20/979489573/overseasspectators-will-be-banned-from-tokyo-olympicsdue-to-covid-19-risks Image credit: Inside The Games DAWN
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Lifestyle/Culture
The BAL: Zamalek Wins Inaugural Basketball Africa League By Edmund Kagire
EGYPTIAN SIDE ZAMALEK overcame Tunisian and African champions US Monastir in a highly electric final of the first edition of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) on Sunday at Kigali Arena. The Egyptian White Knights beat US Monastir, who were the favourites going into the final, 76-63, to lift the Baobab tree-shaped BAL trophy for the first time in a game which Singer was watched by President Bruce Paul Kagame, BAL founder President Paul Kagame of Rwanda Melodie Amadou Gallo Fall and a watches the Finals host of NBA guests, including legend Dikembe Mutombo. Hodge, who was instrumental in the Zamalek Star player Walter Hodge won the Hakeem comeback towards the end of the second quarter, Olajuwon MVP Award, making him the first player scored 12 points while Ivorian star Mouloukou to become the first MVP of the BAL. Souleyman Diabate racked up 14 points, including a series of 3 pointers which gave Zamalek confidence. In the end, it is the Egyptian side that emerged victorious, lifting the very first edition of the BAL, which was superbly organised in Kigali. Singer Bruce Melodie who did the official song ‘Game On’ performed while several stars including South African singer Sho Madjozi and Nigerian singer Fireboy DML were in attendance. Basketball Africa League unveils official logo in Kigali, Rwanda with President Kagame and BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall 96
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www.ktpress.rw/2021/05/the-bal-zamalek-winsinaugural-basketball-africa-league/ www.facebook.com/watch/?v=135773795281353
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First-Ever Black Virtual Art Exhibit Opens 2021 Show With More Than 1,200 Pieces By Parker Diakite
Blossoms In Blues Photo Credit; Harlem Fine Artist Virtual Show THE HARLEM FINE ARTS SHOW (HFAS) has officially opened its Virtual Art Show for 2021. It’s the largest traveling diasporic art show in the country showcasing more than 60 artists and galleries from around the world. The fair runs through July 31, and features more than 1,200 pieces from Black artists valued at more than $100 million. “We are pushing the envelope in support of African Diasporan artists during these challenging times when they are not able to be in front of collectors, said Dion Clarke, founder of the Harlem Fine Arts Show (HFAS). “In our current climate, where awareness of the Black aesthetic is top of mind across the globe, it is imperative for us to reinvent the way we engage with multi-cultural artists utilizing today’s technology.” Featured artists this year include Ademola Olugebefola, Roederick Vines, John Pinderhughes, Danny Simmons, Frank Frazier, and more. As the largest traveling African Diaspora art show 97
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Blossoms In Blues Photo Credit; Harlem Fine Artist Virtual Show
in the United States, HFAS was inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and serves as a platform for Black visual artists to exhibit and sell their artwork. First held in February 2010 in New York City, the Harlem Fine Arts Show has attracted more than 80,000 visitors to venues, including Martha’s Vineyard, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, White Plains, NY, and New York City. The 2021 Harlem Fine Artist Virtual Show will run for five months and be available 24-hours a day. Learn more and access the exhibits by clicking on the HFAS website. https://travelnoire.com/black-virtual-art-exhibitopens-2021-show-more-than-1200-pieces
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How African Fashion has Conquered Film By Nadia Neophytou
IT'S HARD TO overstate Ruth E Carter's achievement in costume design on Black Panther, even now, three years after the film's release. She did, after all, win an Oscar for it. Not only did a massive movie franchise like Marvel finally put a leading black superhero on screen, but he was regally dressed too. As many pundits noted, the film marked a defining moment for black America. But it was a moment that also reverberated throughout the world, not least on the African continent itself, where the Basotho blankets and Ndebele neck-rings were instantly recognised for the items of rich heritage they are. It was a moment of pride that for so long had been denied to Africans portrayed on screen in Hollywood productions. Ten of those Black Panther costumes – plus some from Coming 2 America – are included in an exhibition dedicated to Carter's career at Atlanta's Scad Fash Museum of Fashion The + Film. The exhibition, titled Afrofuturism won in Costume Design, is running until midSeptember, and tells the story of the 60-yearold's ascension as one of only two costume Afrofuturism in Costume Design is an exhibition about the work of designer Ruth E Carter (Credit: Scad Fash designers in history – and the first black woman Museum of Fashion + Film) – to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It's also the story of how Carter has played a groundbreaking role in the way African fashion is costumes with very real significance, informed by her research into various parts of African culture. seen. How do you show that culture lives and breathes "I still get excited talking about Black Panther now," Carter tells BBC Culture, over a video call no matter what your circumstances are, that we're from Atlanta. "It's amazing how meaningful it is, always aspirational? – Ruth E Carter Working together with Oscar-winning even for me, being an African-American, to connect to something real from Africa and put it in a movie production designer Hannah Beachler, Carter and show the world: 'This is part of South African borrowed from indigenous people across the culture' or 'This is from the Lesotho people'. It makes continent, like the Tuareg of the Sahara and the it so much more meaningful; it has so much more Himba of Namibia, and also built a palette out of depth." Through Black Panther – which became the Pan-African flag colours, using black, red and the 12th highest-grossing film ever, and saw fans green across the main cast's costumes. By the time she worked on Black Panther, Carter attend screenings in traditional African attire to celebrate its release – Carter imbued fantasy already had dozens of films to her credit, and 98
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remarkable costumes that Carter created for Black Panther her an Oscar (Credit: Alamy)
was Oscar-nominated for Amistad and Malcolm X, and Emmy-nominated for Roots in 2016. As the exhibition shows, Carter's path as a costume designer has been cemented by her ability to bring different facets of black experiences to the big screen. The underlying theme of the exhibition – and to a great extent, her career is, she says: "How do we show that slaves had an idea of their own Afrofuture? How did they visualise their Afrofuture? How did you show that with Amistad? With Selma? How do you show that culture lives and breathes no matter what your circumstances are, that we're always aspirational?" Black Panther allowed Carter to "connect everything I've done about slavery and about how Africans came to this country, and what happened 99
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Black Panther portrayed a fictional nation, but costumes relied on real African influences (Credit: Scad Fash Museum of Fashion + Film)
to their culture," she says. African filmmakers, from the early works of Senegal's Ousmane Sembène to the breakout stars of Nigeria's popular Nollywood titles, have long used film and TV to tell their stories, and to reflect back particular styles and sensibilities of their culture. Many classics remain influential today, in the way that Jay Z and Beyoncé's On The Run II tour poster was inspired by Djibril Diop Mambéty’s 1973 film Touki Bouki, or Vogue writes about the enduring, if tragic, sophistication of Sembéne’s 1966 film La Noire de. Netflix, too, is streaming more content produced in Africa these days, feeding an appetite for homegrown movies and TV shows that go deeper than the Hollywood see page 100
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Lifestyle/Culture African Fashion from page 99 stereotypes typically have.
Decolonising the gaze Africa doesn't need Hollywood, but thanks to the work of costume designers like Carter – along with the rise of social media, particularly Instagram – we've begun to enjoy a far richer experience of the continent's fashion on screens beyond its borders. While Hollywood has been playing catchup in decolonising the gaze that has for so long informed its productions – buoyed by a leftover legacy of Western filmmakers depicting Africans as exotic and wild, in decades-old tales like Out of Africa and The African Queen – the depiction of its fashion has progressed. Less animal print and 'curio' items, more accurate reflections of individuals with agency. Black Panther was not the first time a costume designer for a major studio production relied on real African influences to portray a fictional African country. In 1989, in the first Coming to America, Deborah Nadoolman Landis looked to the late Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, for the outfits of King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones) and to Senegal for the kaftan that Queen Aoleon (Madge Sinclair) wore in Zamunda. Nadoolman, who scored an Oscar for the costumes, had been an avid lover of African arts and textiles, long before the Coming to America screenplay was written. While the storyline itself may still have a way to go in its reliance on old tropes, Carter, as costume designer for the sequel, elevated Coming 2 America by tapping actual designers working in Africa to assist creating the film's 800 costumes. Expanding what she started doing on Black Panther, she helped expose local fashion designers to a wider audience, and also showcased their individual triumphs. In the patterned knitted vest that Eddie Murphy's Prince Akeem wears in a scene with his newfound son is the 10-year success story of South African designer Laduma Ngxokolo's Maxhosa. In the dresses that Prince Akeem's daughters wear is the fashion empire that Palesa Mokubung – the first African designer to collaborate with H&M, in 2019 – has built. "Their collections mean so much more to them 100
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The recent film Coming 2 America showcases the work of innovative African designers (Credit: Amazon Studios) The remarkable costumes that Carter created for Black Panther won her an Oscar (Credit: Alamy)
than just fashion," says Carter. "Their collections represent their childhood and their pride in being South African." Indeed, Ngxokolo's creations come from a desire to update clothing for the initiation ceremony of his Xhosa upbringing. Ghanaian designer Mimi Plange, too, draws on Nuba painting and scarification in her work, like the handpainted leather skater dress that Kiki Layne wears in Coming 2 America. The details contribute to giving film-goers a more expansive view of Africa, and not stuck in time either. "The film is much more modernised," Ngxokolo tells BBC Culture. "The ideas of fashion in the first one were from the predictable perspective, the way the world usually sees African fashion. But there's more innovation in the second one." Ngxokolo says that collaborations, like working with Carter, help the interpretation of African fashion outside DAWN
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Beyoncé, seen here in the video for Spirit, is among the artists who have been inspired by African fashion (Credit: Disney)
The work of designer Palesa Mokubung is among the costumes seen in Coming 2 America (Getty Images)
the continent. "It makes it legit and relevant as well, because we know our culture better than anyone, so who better person to ask?" Black Panther and Coming 2 America tailored their fashion to sci-fi and comedic specifications, but this attention to detail is being seen beyond the big screen too. On an all-American TV soap like Dynasty, Sam Adegoke's high-powered Jeff Colby embraces the actor's Nigerian heritage in the dapper shirts and suits he dons. Designs from Senegalese label Tongoro have also been seamlessly featured on Dynasty, as well as on Queen Sugar and Insecure. It all contributes towards a 'normalising' of Africa, as Mobolaji Dawodu sees it. The Lagosraised, Brooklyn-based GQ fashion editor, who relies a lot on local African tailors in his work, was costume designer on Disney's Queen of Katwe, in 2016, Andrew Dosunmu's Restless City (2011) and Mother of George (2013). While they may not have been as commercially successful as Black Panther, these films still moved the mark greatly for African fashion onscreen. 101
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"There have been generations of images of Africa that weren't positive," says Dawodu. "In some ways, American culture and Western culture is steeped in the idea of presenting Africa as inferior. It's not even just in one movie where you saw that." He credits Black Panther with raising the consciousness of the world about Africa but says music has played an even bigger part. Of course, another Carter has been instrumental – Beyoncé Knowles Carter. Through Black is King and her Black Parade guide to black-owned businesses, the Grammy-winning star has showcased many African labels. Ivorians Lafalaise Dion and Loza Maléombho and Senegal's Tongoro Studio by Sarah Diouf and Adama Paris are among the prominent designers who were headhunted by her longtime stylist, Zerina Akers. For her Spirit video, Beyoncé wore a monochromatic outfit featuring a black-and-white suit complete with a durag, facepiece and earrings by Tongoro, a brand she also sported at the Global see page 102
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Lifestyle/Culture
Carter's utopian vision will be broadened out in the Black Panther sequel (Credit: Scad Fash Museum of Fashion + Film)
African Fashion from page 101 Citizen Concert in South Africa in 2018. At that event, the singer also showed off a "metamorphosis dress" by South African duo Quiteria and George along with an ancient Egyptian beaded bodysuit by Enhle Mbali Maphumulo. But even before Beyoncé's various African showcases, her sister Solange celebrated Cape Town's sapeurs – a Congolese subculture that has its own established chapter in South Africa – in the 2012 video for Losing You. And before Cameroonian designer Claude Kameni's label Lavie by CK appeared in Coming 2 America, in the form of Mirembe's wedding dress, the West African-textile-inspired
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line was being worn by stars like Tracee Ellis Ross (while hosting the 2018 American Music Awards) and Viola Davis (on a Vanity Fair cover). Similarly, before Ozwald Boateng's teal single-button suit with lip plate wowed in Black Panther, the British-Ghanaian had carved out a space as the youngest designer on London's Saville Row. But Black Panther coalesced a lot of the moments that came before it. It gave Boateng, for example, the chance to embrace his African heritage, in a way he hadn't before, as Carter explained to Vulture. "Usually we see this lip plate in National Geographic on women with no tops who are sitting on the ground, and here is [a man] with his legs crossed and a beautiful suit by the fashion designer Ozwald Boateng. He is bringing so much pride and
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Okoye (Danai Gurira), T'Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) and Ayo (Florence Kasumba). in "Black Panther." (Credit: Marvel Studios)
so much honour to it." Above pride, above honour, it's about imagination, believes Awam Amkpa, NYU interim dean of arts and humanities, and professor of drama, social and cultural analysis. "What we're seeing affirms Africa is more than a place; Africa as spaces of affect," he tells BBC Culture. "And as spaces of affect, they can generate utopias, and that's what Africans give to themselves to survive the complex and sometimes derogatory history of the continent." He says this is true for Africans in the diaspora and those coming from a similar background too, and becomes even more so when juxtaposing a film like Black Panther against the Black Lives Matter movement. "For a people for whom temporality is a space of violence, they've got to imagine other
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spaces where they can be subjects rather than objects," he says. "That desire for invention, for those utopias, is also another way of resistant living in an America that continues to negate people and their communities." Fashion is a way to rewrite the script. As Carter begins work on the Black Panther sequel, and London's Victoria & Albert Museum starts curating a 2022 African fashion exhibition, there will be more to come. "The first Black Panther was an experience we'll never repeat again," says Carter. "The new one will be a continuation and a broadening of the story." www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210326-howafrican-fashion-has-conquered-film
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Lifestyle/Culture
Chef Deborah VanTrece is Showing us Soul Food’s Global Range By Kristen Adaway
IT’S BEEN A BUSY COUPLE OF MONTHS for Deborah VanTrece, who’s known for her modern approach to soul food at her restaurant Twisted Soul Cookhouse and Pours. Earlier this year, the Atlanta chef transitioned into a new creative director role for her restaurant all while working on her debut cookbook. Soul food is a cuisine that Black migrants took outside of the South during the Great Migration. Photo: © The Twisted Soul Cookbook: Modern Soul Food with Her experiences as a former flight attendant Deborah Vantrece, Rizzoli New York, 2021. Images © Noah Fec allowed her to see how different ingredients were Han for Thrillist incorporated into dishes worldwide that later inspired her recipes as a chef. In The Twisted Soul Cookbook: Modern Soul Food with Global Flavors, readers are the ones taking a trip around the globe while exploring the ways in which soul food appears on the plate. And while still keeping the essence of the traditional cuisine at the forefront, VanTrece provides unique twists on classic dishes like smothered chicken gizzard poutine and creamy red bean risotto. In a recent call with VanTrece, we talked about the inspiration behind her cookbook, the global reach of soul food, and Black women’s role in American cuisine. Thrillist: What made you want to write a cookbook? Deborah VanTrece: I think everybody's culinary experiences are a little bit different. I definitely put myself in the category of having a different culinary experience, and I thought it was worthwhile to share it. There's cookbooks about soul food, but really not from a global perspective. I thought it was a chance to— through food— showcase all of the similarities that we throughout the world; we as people have when it comes to our cuisine, and some of my thoughts behind it. That’s the motivation behind doing the cookbook and wanting to just share a part of me with the world.
Smoked chicken cracklin’ cornbread from VanTrece's cookbook © The Twisted Soul Cookbook: Modern Soul Food with Global Flavors by Deborah Vantrece, Rizzoli New York, 2021. Images © Noah Fecks
think of the South, but many of your recipes are influenced by cuisines from all over the world. How did you decide what cuisines to base these recipes on? You know, usually the recipes are things that reminded me of my own family or traditional soul food, or a traditional soul food ingredient. From traveling throughout the world, that commonality of ingredients was something that honestly, prior to traveling, I didn't really think of. I thought soul food that I grew up with, I kind of put When people hear “soul food” they often 104
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it in a box in that it was AfricanAmerican cuisine, and that was kind of it. It wasn't really shared by other people unless they were actually coming to a place that said "soul food." With my travels, I realized that some of these ingredients were way broader than what they've been given credit for. The food that was traditional soul food wasn't being given a lot of respect, even though these ingredients in other parts of the world were given respect in their particular culture. Trying to fuse all of that h Global Flavors by together is really where I came cks; Illustration by Grace up with recipes. It's kind of how I cook now. I cook with all of the knowledge that I've gotten through traveling and food, and the recipes reflect all of that, what I grew up with, what I've seen in travels and things that come with a memory or a story.
in the next five years in terms of being in the spotlight and being included—not just an afterthought? I want to see them in the spotlight. I want to see them included as not just an afterthought. There are so many women, so many African-American cooks that should be chefs, and I want them to get the attention that they deserve. I've been doing this for a long time and it's taken me years to get to where I'm at, where with my male white counterparts, it does not take them that long at all. I'm pushing to help mentor the younger chefs that are trying to come up and help them anyway I can possibly help them. It has to become not an afterthought, but just second nature that restaurants are picked or chefs are picked on the merit of their food, on the merit of their customer service, and not because of the color of their skin. The premier chefs don't always look alike. They're not always white dudes bearded with tattoos. It gets real old, real quick, and we have so much we can learn about each other's root food, that the diversity of our cuisine has got to be recognized if we're trying to be the nation that we In the opening intro of the cookbook, you talk claim that we are. about what and who inspired your cooking, What do you want readers to take away from like Leah Chase, Edna Lewis and Princess your cookbook? Pamela. There's been a lot of attention on Black I want you to have a smile on your face, for women trailblazers. Why do you think it's so one. I want you to understand that our cuisine is important for Black women from the past and evolving. All across the world, cuisine is evolving, present in the food industry to be included in and so is soul food. The most important thing to the conversation? me about soul food is that foundation and the I think it's important because we've been left memories. The fellowship, the positive energy out of that conversation for so long and it really that you get with the stories that are being told doesn't... it's never set well with me. You know, about your memories of food and who produced historically in this country, Black women were the it, and the dinner that all the family came to and ones that were in the kitchen. They were slaves, what a great time [it was]. The celebration of a new they were preparing food for their masters, their member of the family, all of that. master's family, and figuring out how to use new I want you to think about it and then start making ingredients, as well as bring in some of their traditions of your own and use food in those techniques and their flavors from Africa with them, traditions. It's important that our ancestors did this and producing these incredible meals. for us and our children in the future. They have It's amazing to me that Black women have not this foundation to hold onto and make their own been considered in the forefront of American traditions and have good stories. cuisine all along because it's kind of indisputable www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/chef-deborahthat many, many of the culinary things of the vantrece-twisted-soul-cookbook South, many of the dishes, they are dishes that www.amazon.com/Twisted-Soul-Cookbookare directly affiliated with Black women. Modern-Flavors/dp/0847869695 What would you like to see for Black culinarians
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Trade Shows/Exhibitions/Conferences
Events Around the African Continent and the World 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference 1-12 November 2021 Glasgow, United Kingdom https://ukcop26.org
Africa Downunder 1-3 September 2021 Pan Pacific Perth, Australia www. africadownunderconference.com
16-20 November 2021 Kisumu, Kenya https://africitieskisumu.co.ke
Basketball Africa League 16-30 May 2021 Kigali Arena Kigali, Rwanda
Essence Festival 2021 25-27 June and 2-4 July 2021
Africa MICE Summit 9-11 September 2021 – Virtual Event https:// africamicesummit. com
Africa's Big Seven 21-23 June 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre Johannesburg, South Africa www.africabig7.com/africa-trade-week
Hybrid virtual/live event streamed on www.essencestudios.com New Orleans, Louisiana USA www.essencefestival2020.com
Hotel & Hospitality Show
Africities Summit
20-22 June 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre 106
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Johannesburg, South Africa www.thehotelshowafrica.com
IFAT Africa 13 - 15 July 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre Johannesburg, South Africa www.ifat.de/en/trade-fair/ifat-impact/
Infrastructure Africa " Igniting and Unlocking Africa’s Infrastructure Development Opportunities" 22 – 23 June 2021 – Virtual Event www.infrastructureafrica.com
International Fair of Algiers 14 - 19 June 2021 Palais des Expositions des Pins Maritimes Algiers, Algeria http://safex.dz
South African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX) 20-22 June 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre Johannesburg, South Africa www.saitexafrica.com
Tropic Business Summit 13-16 October 2021 Hybrid Event Protea Hotel by Marriott Johannesburg Balalaika Sandton, Sandton, South Africa https://10times.com/tropics-businesssummit Youtube: https://lnkd.in/dirRSwc Facebook: https://lnkd.in/dpgFaxS
Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) June 7 through June 11 2021 Virtual Event / https:// developer.apple.com Swift Student Challenge - https:// developer.apple.com/wwdc21/swiftstudent-challenge
Afrochella 2021
December 26, through January 4, 2021 www.historicalafrica.org/ events/afrochella-2021 Accra, Ghana
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Celebrations
African Diaspora Independence Days J R CAMEROON - J . 1, 1960 R HAITI - J . 1, 1804 D R SUDAN - J . 1, 1956 F G GRENADA - F 07, 1974 R T GAMBIA - F . 18, 1965 SAINT LUCIA - F 22, 1979 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - F . 27, 1844 A R EGYPT - F . 28, 1922 WESTERN SAHARA - F . 28, 1976 M K MOROCCO - M 2, 1956 R GHANA - M 6, 1957 S MAURITIUS - M 12, 1968 R TUNISIA - M 20, 1956 R NAMIBIA - M 21, 1990 A R SENEGAL - A 4, 1960 S N Z MOROCCO (M )-A 7, 1956 R ZIMBABWE - A 18, 1980 MOROCCO (S S Z , M )-A 27, 1958 R SIERRA LEONE - A . 27, 1961 R TOGO - A 27, 1960 M P ' D R ETHIOPIA M 5, 1941 R CUBA - M 20 ,1902 S ERITREA - M 24, 1993 C R GUYANA - M 26, 1966 R SOUTH AFRICA - M 31, 1910 J NIGERIA (B C N )-J 1, 1961 A A ' R V (J )-J 19, 1865 R MOZAMBIQUE - J 25. 1975 D R MADAGASCAR 108
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J 26, 1960 R DJIBOUTI - J 27, 1977 R SEYCHELLES - J 29, 1976 D R CONGO (KINSHASA) - J 30, 1960 MOROCCO (I ) - J 30, 1969 J R BURUNDI - J 1, 1962 R RWANDA - J 1, 1962 D R SOMALIA - J 1, 1960 D P R ALGERIA - J 3, 1962 R CAPE VERDE - J 5, 1975 F I R COMOROS -J 6, 1975 R MALAWI - J 6, 1964 C THE BAHAMAS - J 10, 1973 D R SÃO TOMÉ AND PRINCIPE - J 12, 1975 R LIBERIA - J 26, 1847 A R BENIN - A . 1, 1960 R NIGER - A . 3, 1960 P D R BURKINA FASO - A . 5, 1960 G JAMAICA - A 06, 1962 R CÔTE D'IVOIRE (I C )A . 7, 1960 R CHAD - A . 11, 1960 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - A . 13, 1960 R CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE) A . 15, 1960 R GABON - A . 16, 1960 R TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO - A 31, 1962 S K SWAZILAND - S . 6, 1968 F S C ST. KITTS DAWN
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AND NEVIS - S 19 1983 G BELIZE - S 21, 1981 R MALI - S . 22, 1960 R GUINEA-BISSAU - S . 24, 1973 R BOTSWANA - S . 30, 1966 O CAMEROON (B C S )O . 1, 1961 F R NIGERIA - O . 1, 1960 R GUINEA - O . 2, 1958 K LESOTHO - O . 4, 1966 R UGANDA - O . 9, 1962 R EQUATORIAL GUINEA - O . 12, 1968 R ZAMBIA - O . 24, 1964 G ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES - O 27, 1979 MOROCCO (I Z ,T )O . 29, 1956
N G ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 01 N 01, 1981 C DOMINICA - N 03, 1978 P ' R ANGOLA - N . 11, 1975 R SURINAME - N 25, 1975 I R MAURITANIA - N . 28, 1960 BARBADOS - N 30, 1966 D U R TANZANIA - D . 9, 1961 R KENYA - D . 12, 1963 LIBYA (S P ' L A J ) - D . 24, 1951 www.thoughtco.com/chronological-list-of-africanindependence-4070467 www.caribbeanelections.com/education/ independence/default.asp
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